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r  " 

KASSELAS  '5S'3v*=l 

PRINCE  o-ABYSSINIA 


BY 
SAMUEL    JOHNSON, 


NEW  YORK: 

JOHN  B.  ALDEN,  PUBLISHER. 

1887. 


•ARGYLE    PRESS, 

Printing  and  Bookbinding, 
24  &  26  wooster  st.,  n.  y. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Description  of  a  Palace  in  a  Valley,        ,  5 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Discontent  of  Rasselas  in  the  Happy  Valley,    7 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Wants  of  Him  That  Wants  Nothing,      .        9 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Prince  Continues  to  Grieve  and  Muse,  10 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Prince  Meditates  his  Escape,  ,  12 

CHAPTER  VI. 
A  Dissertation  on  the  Art  of  Flying,  .        13 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Prince  Finds  a  Man  of  Learning,      .  16 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  History  of  Imlac,  .  .  .17 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  History  of  Imlac  Continued,  ,  19 

CHAPTER  X. 
Imlac's  History  Continued— A  Dissertation  on 
Poetry,        .....        23 
CHAPTER  XI. 
Imlac's  Narrative  Continued — A  Hint  on  Pil- 
grimage, ....  24 
CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Story  of  Imlac  Continued,           ,            ,        26 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Rasselas  Discovers  the  Means  of  Escape,  .  29 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Rasselas  and  Imlac  Receive   an  Unexpected 
Visit 31 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Prince  and  Princess  Leave  the  Valley, 
and  see  Many  Wonders,  ,  ,  33 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
They  Enter  Cairo,  and  Find  Every  Man  Happy,    33 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Prince  Associates  with  Young  Men  of 
Spirit  and  Gayety,         ...  36 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Prince  Finds  a  Wise  and  Happy  Man,  .        37 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
A  Glimpse  of  Pastoral  Life,  .  .  39 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Danger  of  Prosperity,      .  ,  ,40 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Happiness  of    Solitude.      The  Hermit's 
History,  ....  41 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  Happiness  of  a  Life  Led  According  to 

Nature,        .....        43 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  Prince  and  His  Sister  Divide  Between 
them  the  "Work  of  Observation,  .  44 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
The  Prince  Examines  the  Happiness  of  High 
Stations,      .  .  .  .  .45 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  Princess  Pursues  Her  Inquiry  with  More 
Diligence  than  Success,  .  .  46 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
The  Princess  Continues  Her  Remarks  Upon 
Private  Life,  .  .  .  .48 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
Disquisition  UiDon  Greatness,  .  .  50 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
Rasselas  and  Nekayah  Continue  Their  Con- 
versation, .  .  .  .61 
CHAPTER  XXIX. 
The  Debate  of  Marriage  Continued,            .  58 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
Imlac  Enters  and  Changes  the  Conversation,       56 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
They  Visit  the  Pyramids,    .  ,  ,  58 


(lONTENTS.  ' 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
They  Enter  the  Pyramids,      ...        59 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
The  Princess  Meets  With  an  Unexpected  Mis- 
fortune,      .  .  .  .  .60 
CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
They  Return  to  Cairo  Without  Pekuah,     .  61 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
The  Princess  Languishes  for  Want  of  Pekuah,     63 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
Pekuah  is  Still  Remembered.     The  Progress  of 
Sorrow,  ....  66 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
The  Princess  Hears  News  of  Pekuah,  ,        67 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
The  Adventures  of  the  Lady  Pekuah,        .  68 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
The  Adventures  of  Pekuah,  Continued,       ,        71 

CHAPTER  XL. 
The  History  of  a  Man  of  Learning,  ,  74 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
The  Astronomer  Discovers  the  Cause  of  the 
Uneasiness,  .  .  ,  .76 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
The  Opinion  of  the  Astronomer  is  explained 

and  Justified,      ....  77 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
The  Astronomer  Leaves  Imlac  His  Directions,    78 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
The  Dangerous  Prevalence  of  Imagination,         79 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
They  Discourse  With  an  Old  Man,     ,  .        81 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
The  Princess  and  Pekuah  Visit  the  Astronomer    $3 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 
The  Prince  Enters  and  Brings  a  New  Topic,        87 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
Imlac  Discourses  on  the  Nature  of  the  Soul,        89 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
The  Conclusion,  in  Which  Nothing  is  Concluded,  93 


CHAPITER   I. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  A  PALACE  IN  A  VALLEY. 

Ye  who  listen  with  credulity  to  the  whispers  of  fan- 
cy, and  pursue  with  eagerness  the  phantoms  of  hope, 
who  expect  that  age  will  perform  the  promises  of 
youth,  and  that  the  deficiencies  of  the  present  day  will 
be  supplied  by  the  morrow,  attend  to  the  history  of 
Rasselas,  prince  of  Abyssinia. 

Rasselas  was  the  fourth  son  of  the  mighty  emperor 
in  whose  dominions  tlie  Father  of  Waters  begins  his 
course;  whose  bounty  pours  down  the  streams  of 
plenty  and  scatters  over  half  the  world  the  harvests  of 
Egypt. 

According  to  the  custom  which  has  descended  from 
age  to  age  among  the  monarchs  of  the  torrid  zone 
Rasselas  was  confined  in  a  private  palace,  witn  the 
other  sons  and  daughters  of  Abyssinian  royalty,  till 
the  order  of  succession  should  call  them  to  the  throne. 

The  place  which  the  wisdom  or  policy  of  antiquity 
had  destined  for  the  residence  of  the  Abyssinian 
princes  was  a  spacious  valley  in  the  kingdom  of  Am- 
hara,  surrounded  on  every  side  by  mountains,  of  which 
the  snmmits  overhang  the  middle  part.  The  only 
passage  by  which  it  could  be  entered  was  a  cavern 
that  passed  under  a  rock,  of  which  it  has  long  been 
disbuted  whether  it  was  the  work  of  nature  or  of  hu- 
man industry.  The  outlet  of  the  cavern  was  concealed 
by  a  thick  wood,  and  the  mouth  which  opened  into 
the  valley  was  closed  with  gates  of  iron  forged  by  the 
artificers  of  ancient  days,  so  massy  that  no  man  could 
without  the  help  of  engines  open  or  shut  them. 

From  the  mountains  on  every  side,  rivulets  descended 
that  filled  all  the  valley  with  verdure  and  fertility,  and 
formed  a  lake  in  the  middle,  inhabited  by  fish  of  every 
species,  and  frequented  by  every  fowl  whom  nature 
has  taught  to  dip  the  wing  in  water.  This  lake  dis- 
charge its  superfluities  by  a  stream  which  entered  a 
dark  cleft  of  the  mountain  on  the  northern  side,  and 
fell  with  dreadful  noise  from  precipice  to  precipice  till 
it  was  heard  no  more. 

The  sides  of  the  mountains  were  covered  with  trees, 
the  banks  of  the  brooks  were  diversified  with  flowers  ; 
every  blast  shook  spices  from  the  rocks,  and  every 


6  RASSELAS. 

month  dropped  fruits  upon  the  ground.  All  animals 
that  bite  the  grass  or  browse  the  shrub,  whether  wild 
or  tame,  wandered  in  this  extensive  circuit,  secured 
from  beasts  of  prey  by  the  mountains  which  confined 
them,  on  one  part  were  flocks  and  herds  feeding  in 
the  pastures,  on  another  all  the  beasts  of  chase  frisk- 
ing in  the  lawns  ;  the  sprightly  kid  was  bounding  on 
the  rocks,  the  subtle  monkey  frolicking  in  the  trees, 
and  the  solemn  elephant  reposing  in  the  shade.  All  the 
diversities  of  the  world  were  brought  together,  the 
blessings  of  nattue  were  collected,  and  its  evils  extracted 
and  excluded. 

The  valley, wide  and  fruitful,  supplied  its  inhabitants 
with  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  all  delights  and  super- 
fluities were  added  at  the  annual  visit  which  the  Em- 
peror paid  his  children,  when  the  iron  gate  was  opened 
to  the  sound  of  music ;  and  during  eight  days  every 
one  that  resided  in  the  valley  was  required  to  propose 
whatever  might  contribute  to  make  seclusion  pleasant, 
to  fill  up  the  vacancies  of  attention,  and  lessen  the  tedi- 
ousness  of  time.  Every  desire  was  immediately  gran- 
ted. All  the  artificers  of  pleasure  were  called  to 
gladden  the  festivity ;  the  musicians  exerted  the  power 
of  harmony,  and  the  dancers  showed  their  activity  be- 
fore the  princes,  in  hope  that  they  should  pass  their 
lives  in  this  blissful  captivity ;  to  which  those  only  were 
admitted  whose  performance  was  thought  able  to  add 
novelty  to  luxmy.  Such  w^as  the  appearance  of  secur- 
ity and  delight  which  this  retirement  aftorded  that  they 
to  whom  it  was  new  always  desired  that  it  might  be 
jperiDetual;  and  as  those  on  whom  the  iron  gate  had 
once  closed  were  never  sufl'ered  to  return,  the  effect  of 
longer  exj)erience  could  not  be  known.  Thus  every 
year  produced  new  schemes  of  delight  and  new  com- 
petitors for  imprisonment. 

The  palace  stood  on  an  eminence  raised  about  thirty 
paces  above  the  surface  of  the  lake.  It  was  divided 
into  many  squares  or  courts,  built  with  greater  or  less 
magnificence,  according  to  the  rank  of  those  for  whom 
they  were  designed.  The  roofs  were  turned  into  arch. 
es  of  massy  stone,  joined  by  a  cement  that  grew  harder 
by  time,  and  the  building  stood  from  century  to  cen- 
tmy  deriding  the  solstitial  rains  and  equinoctial 
hm-ricanes,  without  need  of  reparation. 

This  house,  which  was  so  large  as  to  be  fully  known 
to  none  but  some  ancient  officers  who  successively  in- 
herited the  secrets  of  the  place,  was  built  as  if  suspicion 
herself  had  dictated  the  plan.  To  every  room  there 
was  an  open  and  secret  passage,  every  square  had 
a  communication  with  the  rest,  either  from  the  upper 
stories  by  private  galleries,  or  by  subterranean  passages 
from  the  lower  apartment^. 


RASSELAS.  7 

Many  of  the  columns  liad  unsuspected  cavities,  in 
wliich  a  long  race  of  monarclis  had  deposited  their 
treasvu-es.  Tliey  tlieu  closed  up  the  opening  with  mar- 
ble,, which  was  never  to  be  i-emoved  but  in  the  utmost 
exigencies  of  the  kingdom,  and  recorded  their  accum- 
ulations in  a  book,  which  was  itself  concealed  in  a 
tower  not  entered  but  by  the  emperor,  attended  by 
the  prince  who  stood  next  in  succession. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    DISCONTENT    OF    RASSELAS    IN    THE    HAPPY 
VALLEY. 

Here  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Abyssinia  lived  only 
to  know  the  soft  vicissitudes  of  pleasure  and  repose, 
attended  by  all  that  were  skilful  to  delight,  and  gratified 
with  whatever  the  senses  can  enjoy.  They  wandered 
in  gardens  of  fragrance  and  slept  in  the  fortresses  of 
secm-ity.  Every  art  was  practiced  to  make  them  pleas- 
ed with  their  own  condition.  The  sages,  who  instructed 
tliem,  told  them  of  nothmg  but  the  miseries  of  public 
life,  and  described  all  beyond  the  mountains  as  regions 
of  calamity,  where  discord  was  always  raging,  and 
where  man  preyed  upon  man . 

To  heighten  their  opinion  of  their  own  felicity,  they 
were  daily  entertained  with  songs,  the  subject  of  which 
was  the  happy  valley. 

Then*  appetites  were  excited  by  frequent  enumer- 
ations of  different  enjoyments;  and  revehy  and 
merriment  was  the  business  of  every  hour  from  the 
dawn  of  morning  to  the  close  of  even. 

These  methods  were  generally  successful ;  few  of 
the  princes  had  ever  wished  to  enlarge  their  bounds, 
but  passed  theu' lives  in  full  conviction  that  they  had 
all  within  then- reach  that  art  or  nature  could  bestow, 
and  pitied  those  whom  fate  had  excluded  from  this  seat 
of  tranquillity,  as  the  sport  of  chance  and  the  slaves  of 
misery. 

Thus  they  rose  in  the  morning  and  lay  down  at 
night,  pleased  with  each  other  and  with  themselves  ; 
all  butRasselas,  who  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age 
began  to  withdraw  himself  from  their  x)astimes  and 
assemblies,  and  to  delight  in  solitary  walks  and  silent 
meditation. 

He  often  sat  before  tables  covered  with  luxury  and 
forgot  to  taste  the  dainties  that  were  placed  before 
him;  he  rose  abruptly  in  the  midst  of  the  song  and 
hastily  retired  beyond  the  sound  of  music. 


S  RASSELAS. 

His  attendants  observed  the  change  and  endeavored 
to  renew  his  love  of  pleasure;  he  neglected  their  offic- 
iousness  and  repulsed  their  invitations,  and  spent  day 
after  day  on  the  banks  of  rivulets  sheltered  witli  trees, 
where  he  sometimes  listened  to  the  birds  in  the  branch- 
es, sometimes  observed  the  fish  playing  in  the  stream, 
and  anon  cast  his  eyes  upon  the  pastures  and  mountains 
filled  with  animals,  of  which  some  were  biting  the 
herbage  and  some  sleeping  among  the  bushes. 

This  singularity  of  his  humor  made  him  much  obser- 
ved. One  of  the  sages,  in  whose  conversation  he  had 
formerly  delighted,  followed  him  secretly,  in  hope  of 
discovering  the  cause  of  his  disquiet.  Kasselas,  who 
knew  not  that  anyone  was  near  him,  having  for  some 
time  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  goats  that  were  browsing 
among  the  rocks,  began  to  compare  their  condition 
with  his  own. 

'*  What,"  said  he, "makes  the  difference  between  man 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation  ?  Every  beast 
that  strays  beside  me  has  the  same  corporeal  necessities 
with  myself  :  he  is  hungry  and  crops  the  grass,  he  is 
thirsty  and  drinks  the  stream,  his  thirst  and  hunger  are 
appeased,  he  is  satisfied  and  sleeps;  he  rises  again  and 
is  hungry,  he  is  again  fed  and  is  at  rest.  1  am  hungry 
and  thirsty  like  him,  but  when  thirst  and  hunger  cease 
I  am  not  at  rest ;  I  am,  like  him,  pained  with  want, 
but  am  not,  like  him,  satisfied  with  fulness.  The  inter- 
mediate hours  are  tedious  and  gloomy;  I  long  again  to 
be  hungry,   that  I  may  again  quicken  my  attention. 

The  birds  pick  the  berries  or  the  corn,  and  fly  away  to 
the  groves,  where  they  sit  in  seeming  happiness  on  the 
branches,  and  waste  their  lives  in  tuning  one  unvaried 
series  of  sounds.  I  likewise  can  call  the  lutanist  and 
the  singer,'  but  the  sounds  that  pleased  me  yesterday 
weary  me  to-day,  and  will  grow  yet  more  wearisome 
to-morrow.  I  can  discover  within  me  no  power  of  per- 
ception which  is  not  glutted  with  its  proper  pleasure, 
yet  I  do  not  feel  myself  delighted.  Man  surely  has 
some  latent  sense  for  which  this  place  affords  no  grati- 
fication ;  or  he  has  some  desires,  distinct  from  sense, 
which  must  be  satisfied  before  he  can  be  happy.  " 

After  this  he  lifted  up  his  head,  and,  seeing  the 
moon  rising  walked  towards  the  x)alace.  As  he  pased 
through  the  fields  and  saw  the  animals  around  him, 
**  Ye,"  said  he,  "are  happy,  and  need  not  envy  me 
that  walk  thus  among  you,  burdened  with  myself; 
nor  do  I,  ye  gentle  beings,  envy  your  felicity  ;  for  it  is 
not  the  felicity  of  man.  1  have  many  distresses  from 
which  ye  are  free  :  I  fear  pain  when  I  do  not  feel 
it ;  I  sometimes  shrink  at  evils  recollected,  and  some- 
times start  at  evils  anticipated.    Sm'ely  the  equity  of 


RASSELAS.  9 

Providence  has  balanced  peculiar  sufferings  with  pecul- 
iar enjoyments.  " 

With  observations  like  these  the  prince  amused 
himself  as  he  returned  ;  uttering  them  with  a  plaintive 
voice,  yet  with  a  look  that  discovered  him  to  feel  some 
complacence  in  his  own  perspicacity,  and  to  receive 
some  solace  of  the  miseries  of  life  from  consciousness 
of  the  delicacy  with  which  he  felt  and  the  eloquence 
with  which  he  bewailed  them.  He  mingled  cheerfully 
in  the  diversions  of  the  evening,  and  all  rejoiced  to  find 
that  his  heart  was  lightened. 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE  WANTS  OF  HIM  THAT  WANTS  NOTHINa. 

On  the  next  day  his  old  instructor,  imagining  that  he 
had  now  made  himself  acquainted  with  his  disease  of 
mind,  was  in  hope  of  curing  it  by  counsel,  and  offici- 
ously sought  an  opportunity  of  conference;  which  the 
prmce,  having  long  considered  him  as  one  whose  intel- 
lects were  exhausted,  was  not  very  willing  to  afford, 
"  VV  hy,"  said  he,"  does  this  man  thus  intrude  upon  me; 
shall  I  be  never  suffered  to  forget  those  lectm-es  which 
pleased  only  Mdiile  they  were  new,  and  to  become  new 
again  must  be  forgotten  ?  "  He  then  walked  into  the 
wood,  and  composed  himself  to  his  usual  meditations; 
when,  before  his  thoughts  had  taken  any  settled  form, 
he  perceived  his  pursuer  at  his  side,  and  was  at  first 
prompted  by  his  impatience  to  go  hastily  away;  but, 
being  unwilling  to  offend  a  man  whom  he  had  once 
reverenced  and  still  loved,  he  invited  him  to  sit  down 
with  him  on  the  bank. 

The  old  man,  thus  encouraged,  began  to  lament  the 
change  which  had  been  lately  observed  in  the  prince, 
and  to  inquire  why  he  so  often  retired  from  the  pleasures 
of  the  palace  to  loneliness  and  silence  ?  "  I  fly  from 
pleasure,"  said  the  prince  "because  pleasure  has  ceased 
to  please;  I  am  lonely  because  I  am  miserable,  and  am 
unwilling  to  cloud  with  my  presence  the  happiness  of 
others."  "You,  sir,"  said  the  sage,  "are  the  first  who 
has  complained  of  misery  in  the  happy  valley.  I  hope 
to  convince  you  that  your  complaints  have  no  real  cause. 
You  are  here  in  full  possession  of  all  that  the  emperor 
of  Abyssinia  can  bestow;  here  is  neither  labor  to  be 
endured  nor  danger  to  be  dreaded,  yet  here  is  all  that 
labor  or  danger  can  procure  or  purchase.  Look  round 
and  tell  me  which  of  your  wants  is  without  supply; 
if  you  want  nothing,  how  are  you  unhappy  ?  " 

"That  I  want  nothing,"  said  the  prince,  "  or  that  I 
know  not  what  I  want,  is  the  cause  of  my  complaint. 
If  I  had  any  known  want,  I  should  have  a  certain 


10  RASSELAS. 

wish;  that  wish  would  excite  eudeavor,  and  I  should 
not  then  repine  to  see  the  sun  move  so  slowly  toward 
the  western  mountain,  or  lament  when  the  day  breaks, 
and  sleep  will  no  longer  hide  me  from  myself.  When 
I  see  the  kids  and  the  lambs  chasing  one  another,  I 
fancy  that  I  should  be  happy  if  I  had  something  to 
pursue.  But,  possessing  all  that  I  can  want,  1  find  one 
day  and  one  hour  exactly  like  another,  except  that  the 
latter  is  still  more  tedious  than  the  former.  Let  your 
experience  inform  me  how  the  day  may  now  seem 
as  short  as  in  my  childhood,  while  nature  was  yet  fresh, 
and  every  moment  showed  me  what  I  never  had 
observed  before.  I  have  already  enjoyed  too  much; 
give  me  something  to  desh-e." 

The  old  man  was  surprised  at  this  new  species  of 
affliction,  and  knew  not  what  to  reply,  yet  was  unwill- 
ing to  be  silent.  *'  Sir,"  said  he,  "  if  you  had  seen  the 
miseries  of  the  world  you  would  know  how  to  value 
your  present  state."  *' Now,"  said  the  prince,  "  you 
have  given  me  something  to  desire;  I  shall  long  to  see 
the  miseries  of  the  world,  since  the  sight  of  them  is 
necessary  to  happiness." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PRINCE  CONTINUES  TO  GRIEVE  AND   MUSE. 

At  this  time  the  sound  of  music  proclaimed  the  hour 
of  repast,  and  the  conversation  was  concluded.  The 
old  man  went  away  sufiiciently  discontented,  to  find 
that  his  reasonings  had  produced  the  only  conclusion 
which  tliey  were  intended  to  prevent.  But  in  the  de- 
cUne  of  life  shame  and  grief  are  of  short  duration; 
whether  it  be  that  we  bear  easily  what  we  have  borne 
long,  or  that,  finding  ourselves  in  age  less  regarded,  we 
less  regard  others,  or  that  we  look  with  slight  regard 
upon  afflictions  to  which  we  know  that  the  hand  of 
death  is  about  to  put  an  end. 

The  prince,  wliose  views  were  extended  to  a  wider 
space,  could  not  speedily  quiet  his  emotions.  He  had 
been  before  terrified  at  the  length  of  life  which  nature 
promised  him,  because  he  considered  that  in  a  long- 
time much  must  be  endured  ;  he  now  rejoiced  in  his 
youth,  because  in  many  years  much  might  be  done. 

This  first  beam  of  hope  that  had  been  ever  darted 
into  his  mind  rekindled  youth  in  his  cheeks  and  doubled 
the  lustre  of  his  eyes.  He  was  fired  with  the  desire  of 
doing  something,  though  he  knew  not  yet  with  dis- 
tinctness either  end  or  means. 

He  was  now  no  longer  gloomy  and  unsocial ;  but, 
considering  himself  as  master  of  a  secret  stock  of  happi- 


RASSELAS.  11 

ness,  which  lie  could  enjoy  only  by  concealmg  it,  he 
affected  to  be  busy  in  all  schemes  of  diversion,  and 
endeavored  to  make  others  pleased  with  the  state  of 
which  he  himself  was  weary.  But  pleasures  never 
can  be  so  multiplied  or  continued  as  not  to  leave  much 
of  life  unemployed  :  there  were  many  hours,  both  of 
the  night  and  day,  which  he  could  spend  without  sus- 
picion'in  solitary  thought.  The  load  of  life  was  much 
lightened ;  he  went  eagerly  into  the  assemblies,  be- 
cause he  supposed  the  h-equency  of  his  presence  nec- 
essary to  the  success  of  his  purposes  ;  he  retired  gladly 
to  privacy,  because  he  had  now  a  subject  of  thought. 

His  chief  amusement  was  to  picture  to  himself  that 
world  which  he  had  never  seen  ;  to  place  himself  in 
various  conditions  ;  to  be  entangled  in  imaginary  diffi- 
culties, and  to  be  engaged  in  wild  adventures  ;  but  his 
benevolence  always  terminated  his  projects  in  the  re- 
lief of  distress,  the  detection  of  fraud,  the  defeat  of 
oppression,  and  the  diffusion  of  happiness. 

Thus  passed  twenty  months  of  the  life  of  Rasselas. 
He  busied  himself  so  intensely  in  visionary  bustle  that 
he  forgot  his  real  solitude  ;  and,  amid  hourly  prepara- 
tions for  the  various  incidents  of  human  affairs,  neg- 
lected to  consider  by  what  means  he  should  mingle 
with  mankind. 

One  daj^,  as  he  was  sitting  on  a  bank,  he  feigned  to 
himself  an  orphan  virgin  robbed  of  her  little  portion  by 
a  treacherous  lover,  and  crying  after  him  for  restitu- 
tion and  redress.  So  strongly  was  the  image  impressed 
upon  his  mind  that  he  started  up  in  the  maid's  defence, 
and  ran  forward  to  seize  the  plunderer,  with  all  the 
eagerness  of  real  pursuit.  Fear  naturally  quickens  the 
flight  of  guilt.  Rasselas  could  not  catch  the  fugitive 
with  his  utmost  efforts  ;  but  resolving  to  weary  by  per- 
severance him  whom  he  could  not  surpass  in  speed,  he 
pressed  on  till  the  foot  of  the  mountain  stopped  his 
course. 

Here  he  recollected  himself,  and  smiled  at  his  own 
useless  impetuosity.  Then,  raising  his  eyes  to  the 
mountain,  "  This,"  said  he,  "  is  the  fatal  obstacle  that 
hinders  at  once  the  enjoyment  of  pleasure  and  the  exer- 
cise of  virtue.  How  long  is  it  that  my  hopes  and  wishes 
have  flown  beyond  this  boundary  of  my  life,  which 
yet  I  never  have  attempted  to  surmount  ?  " 

Struck  with  this  reflection,  he  sat  down  to  muse ; 
and  remembered,  that  ■^'ace  he  fli'st  resolved  to  escape 
from  his  conflnemeL„,  the  sun  had  passed  twice  over 
him  in  his  annual  course.  He  now  felt  a  degree  of  re- 
gret with  which  he  had  never  been  before  acquainted. 
He  considered  how  much  might  have  been  done  in  the 
time  which  had  passed,  and  left  nothing  leal  behind  it. 
He  compared  twenty  niontiis  witli  the  life  of  man. 


10  RASSELAS. 

"  In  life,"  said  he,  "is  not  to  be  counted  the  ignorance 
of  infancy  or  imbecility  of  age.  We  are  long  before 
we  are  able  to  think,  and  we  soon  cease  from  the  power 
of  acting.  The  true  period  of  human  existence  may  be 
reasonably  estimated  at  forty  years,  of  which  I  have 
mused  away  the  four-and-twentieth  part.  What  I  have 
lost  was  certain,  for  I  have  certainly  possessed  it  3  but 
of  twenty  months  to  come  who  can  assure  me  ?  " 

The  consciousness  of  his  own  folly  pierced  him 
deeply,  and  he  was  long  before  he  could  be  reconciled 
to  himself.  "The  rest  of  my  time,"  said  he,  "has 
been  lost  by  the  crime  or  folly  of  my  ancestors  and  the 
absurd  institutions  of  my  country  ;  I  remember  it  with 
disgust,  yet  without  remorse ;  but  the  months  that 
have  passed  since  new  light  darted  into  my  soul,  since 
I  formed  a  scheme  of  reasonable  felicity,  have  been 
squandered  by  my  own  fault,  I  have  lost  that  which 
can  never  be  restored  :  I  have  seen  the  sun  rise  and  set 
for  twenty  months,  an  idle  gazer  on  the  light  of 
heaven  ;  in  this  time  the  birds  have  left  the  nest  of 
then-  mother  and  committed  themselves  to  the  woods 
and  to  the  skies  :  the  kid  has  forsaken  the  teat  and 
learned  by  degrees  to  climb  the  rocks  in  quest  of  inde- 
pendent sustenance.  I  only  have  made  no  advances, 
but  am  still  helpless  and  ignorant.  The  moon,  by 
more  than  twenty  changes,  admonished  me  of  the  flux 
of  life ;  the  stream  that  rolled  before  my  feet  up- 
braided my  inactivity.  I  sat  feasting  on  intellectual 
luxury,  regardless  alike  of  the  examples  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  instructions  of  the  planets.  Twenty  months 
are  passed  j  who  shall  restore  them  ?  " 

These  sorrowful  meditations  fastened  upon  his  mind; 
he  passed  fom'  months  in  resolving  to  lose  no  more 
time  in  idle  resolves  ;  and  was  awakened  to  more  vig- 
orous exertion  by  hearing  a  maid,  who  had  broken  a 
porcelain  cup,  remark  that  what  cannot  be  repaired  is 
not  to  be  regretted. 

This  was  obvious  ;  and  Rasselas  reproached  himself 
that  he  had  not  discovered  it,  having  not  known  or  not 
considered  how  many  useful  hints  are  obtained  by 
chance,  and  how  often  the  mind,  hurried  by  her  owm 
ardor  to  distant  views,  neglects  the  truths  that  lie  open 
before  her.  He,  for  a  few  hours,  regretted  his  regret, 
and  from  that  time  bent  his  whole  mind  upon  the  means 
of  escaping  from  the  valley  of  happiness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  PRINCE  MEDITATES  HIS  ESCAPE. 

He  now  found  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  effect 
tiiat  which  it  was  very  easy  to  suppose  eii'ected.    Wheu 


RASSELAS.  13 

he  looked  round  about  him,  he  saw  hhnself  confined 
by  the  bars  of  nature,  which  had  never  yet  been 
broken,  and  by  tlie  gate,  through  which  none  that 
once  had  passed  it  were  ever  able  to  retui'n.  He  was 
now  impatient  as  an  eagle  in  the  grate.  He  passed 
week  after  week  in  clambering  the  mountains,  to  see 
if  there  was  any  aperture  which  the  bushes  might  con- 
ceal, but  found  all  the  summits  inaccessible  by  their 
prominence.  The  iron  gate  he  despaired  to  open;  for 
it  was  not  only  secured  with  all  the  powers  of  art,  but 
was  alwaj^s  watched  by  successive  sentinels,  and  was 
by  its  position  exposed  to  the  perpetual  observation  of 
all  the  inhabitants. 

He  then  examined  the  cavern  through  which  the 
waters  of  the  lake  were  discharged  ;  and,  looking  down 
at  a  time  when  the  sun  shown  strongly  upon  its  mouth, 
he  discovered  it  to  be  full  of  broken  rocks,  which, 
though  they  permitted  the  stream  to  flow  through  many 
narrow  passages,  would  stop  any  body  of  solid  bulk. 
He  retm-ned,  discouraged  and  dejected ;  but,  having 
now  known  the  blessing  of  hope,  resolved  never  to 
despair. 

In  these  fruitless  searches  he  spent  ten  months. 
The  time,  however,  passed  cheerfully  away  :  in  the 
morning  he  rose  with  new  hope,  in  the  evening  ap- 
plauded his  own  diligence,  and  in  the  night  slept 
sound  after  his  fatigue.  He  met  a  thousand  amuse- 
ments which  beguiled  his  labor  and  diversified  his 
thoughts.  He  discerned  the  various  instincts  of  ani- 
mals and  properties  of  plants,  and  found  the  place  re- 
plete with  wonders,  of  which  he  pm-posed  to  solace 
himself  with  the  contemplation,  if  he  should  never  be 
able  to  accomplish  his  flight ;  rejoicing  that  his  en- 
deavors, though  yet  unsuccessful,  had  supplied  him 
with  a  source  or  inexhaustible  inquiry. 

But  his  original  curiosity  was  not  yet  abated  ;  he  re- 
solved to  obtain  some  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  men. 
His  wish  still  continued,  but  his  hope  grew  less.  He 
ceased  to  sm'vey  any  longer  the  walls  of  his  prison,  and 
spared  to  search  by  new  toils  for  interstices  which  he 
knew  could  not  be  found,  yet  determined  to  keep  his 
design  always  in  view,  and  lay  hold  on  any  expedient 
that  time  should  offer. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

A  DISSERTATION  ON  THE  ART  OP  FLYING. 

Among  the  artists  that  had  been  allm-ed  into  the 
happy  \alley,  to  labor  for  the  accommodation  and 
pleasure  of  its  inhabitants,  was  a  man  eminent  for  his 


14  RASSELAS. 

knowledge  of  the  mechanic  powers,  who  had  contrived 
many  engines,  both  of  use  and  recreation.  By  a  wheel 
which  the  stream  turned  he  forced  the  water  into 
a  tower,  whence  it  was  distributed  to  all  the  apart- 
ments of  the  palace.  He  erected  a  pavilion  in  the  gar- 
den, around  which  he  kept  the  air  always  cool  by  arti- 
ficial showers.  One  of  the  groves,  appropriated  to  the 
ladies,  was  ventilated  by  fans,  to  which  the  rivulet  that 
run  through  it  gave  a  constant  motion;  the  instru- 
ments of  soft  music  were  placed  at  proper  distances,  of 
which  some  played  by  the  impulse  of  the  wind  and 
some  by  the  power  of  the  stream. 

This  artist  was  sometimes  visited  by  Rasselas,  who 
was  pleased  with  every  kind  of  knowledge,  imagining 
that  the  time  would  come  when  all  his  acqu^iiitions 
should  be  of  use  to  him  in  the  open  world.  He  came 
one  day  to  amuse  himself  in  his  usual  manner,  and 
found  the  master  busy  in  building  a  sailing  chariot;  he 
saw  that  the  design  was  practicable  upon  a  level  sur- 
face, and  with  expressions  of  great  esteem  solicited  its 
completion.  The  workman  was  pleased  to  find  himself 
so  much  regarded  by  the  prince,  and  resolved  to  gain 
yet  higher  honors.  "Sir,"  said  he,  "  you  have  seen 
iDut  a  small  part  of  what  the  mechanic  sciences  can 
perform.  I  have  been  long  of  opinion,  that  instead  of 
the  tardy  conveyance  of  ships  and  chariots,  man  might 
use  the  swifter  migration  of  wings  ;  that  the  fields  of 
air  are  open  to  knowledge,  and  that  only  ignorance 
and  idleness  need  crawl  upon  the  ground." 

This  hint  rekindled  the  prince's  desire  of  passing  the 
mountams  :  having  seen  what  the  machinist  had 
already  performed,  he  was  willing  to  fancy  that  he 
could  do  more,  yet  resolved  to  inquire  further  before 
suffered  hope  to  afflict  him  by  disappointment ;  "I  am 
afraid,"  said  he  to  the  artist,  "  that  your  imagination 
prevails  over  your  skill,  and  that  you  now  tell  me 
rather  what  you  wish  than  what  you  know.  Every 
animal  has  his  element  assigned  him ;  the  birds  have 
the  air,  and  man  and  beasts  the  earth."  "So,"  re- 
plied the  machinist,  "  fishes  have  the  water,  in  which 
yet  beasts  can  swim  by  nature  and  men  by  art.  He 
that  can  swim  needs  not  despah  to  fiy  ;  to  swim  is  to 
fly  in  a  grosser  fluid,  and  to  fly  is  to  swim  in  a  subtler. 
We  are  only  to  proportion  om'  power  of  resistance  to 
the  different  density  of  matter  through  which  we  are 
to  pass.  You  will  be  necessarily  upborne  by  the  air, 
if  you  can  renew  any  impulse  upon  it  faster  than  the 
air  can  recede  from  the  pressure." 

"But  the  exercise  of  ssvimming,"  said  the  prince, 
"is  veiy  laborious;  the  strongest  limbs  are  soon 
wearied ;  I  am  afraid  the  act  of  flying  will  be  yet  more 


RASSELAS.  15 

violent ;  and  wings  will  be  of  no  gi-eat  use  unless  we 
can  fly  farther  than  we  can  swim." 

•'The  labor  of  rising  from  the  ground,"  said  the 
artist,  "will  be  great,  as  we  see  it  in  the  heavier  do- 
mestic fowls,  but  as  we  mount  higher,  the  earth's 
attraction  and  the  body's  gravity  will  be  gradually 
diminished,  till  we  shall  arrive  at  a  region  where  the 
man  will  float  in  the  air  without  any  tendency  to  fall ; 
no  care  will  then  be  necessary  but  to  move  forward, 
wiiicli  the  gentlest  impulse  will  effect.  You,  sir, 
whose  curiosity  is  so  extensive,  will  easily  conceive 
with  what  pleasure  a  philosopher,  furnished  with  wings 
and  hovering  in  the  sky,  would  see  the  earth  and  all  its 
inhabitants  rolling  beneath  him,  and  presenting  to  him 
successively,  by  its  diurnal  motion,  all  the  countries 
within  the  same  pai-allel.  How  must  it  amuse  the 
pendent  spectator  to  see  the  moving  scene  of  land  and 
ocean,  cities  and  deserts  !  To  sm-vey  with  equal  sere- 
nity the  marts  of  trade  and  the  fields  of  battle ;  moun- 
tains infested  by  barbarians,  and  fruitful  regions  glad- 
dened by  plenty  and  lulled  by  peace  !  How  easily  shall 
we  then  trace  the  Nile  through  all  his  passage ;  pass 
over  to  distant  regions,  and  examine  the  face  of  nature 
from  one  extremity  to  the  other  !  " 

"All  this,"  said  the  prince,  "  is  much  to  be  desired; 
but  I  am  afraid  that  no  man  will  be  able  to  breathe  in 
these  regions  of  speculation  and  tranquility.  1  have 
been  told  that  respiration  is  diflicult  upoji  lofty  moun- 
tains, yet  from  these  precipices,  though  so  high  as  to 
produce  great  tenuity  of  air,  it  is  very  easy  to  fall; 
therefore  I  suspect  that  from  any  height  where  life  can 
be  supported  there  may  be  danger  of  too  quicli  de- 
scent," 

"Nothing,"  replied  the  artist,  "will  ever  be  at- 
tempted if  all  possible  objections  must  be  first  over- 
come. If  you  will  favor  my  project,  I  will  try  the  first 
flight  at  my  own  hazard.  I  have  considered  the  struc- 
ture of  all  volant  animals,  and  find  the  folding  contin- 
uity of  the  bat's  wings  most  easily  accommodated  to 
the  human  form.  Upon  this  model  I  shall  begin  my 
task  to-morrow,  and  in  a  year  expect  to  tower  into  the 
air  beyond  the  malice  ancl  pursuit  of  man.  But  I  will 
work  only  on  this  condition,  that  the  art  shall  not  be 
divulged,  and  that  you  shall  not  require  me  to  make 
wings  for  any  but  ourselves." 

"Why,"  said  liasselas,  "should  you  envy  others  so 
great  an  advantage  ?  All  skill  ought  to  be  exerted  for 
universal  good  ;  every  man  has  owed  much  to  others, 
and  ought  to  repay  the  kindness  that  he  has  received." 

"If  men  were  all  virtuous,"  returned  the  artist,  "I 
should  with  great  alacrity  teach  them  all  to  fly.  But 
what  would  be  the  security  of  the  good  if  the  bad 


16  RASSELAS. 

could  at  pleasure  invade  them  from  the  sky  ?  Agamst 
an  army  sailing  through  the  clouds,  neither  walls,  nor 
mountains,  nor  seas  could  afford  any  security.  A  flight 
of  northern  savages  might  hover  in  the  wind  and  light 
at  once  with  irresistible  violence  upon  the  capital  of  a 
fruitful  region  that  was  rolling  under  them.  Even 
this  valley,  the  retreat  of  princes,  the  abode  of  happi- 
ness, might  be  violated  by  the  sudden  descent  of  some 
of  the  naked  nations  that  swayu  on  the  coast  of  the 
southern  sea." 

The  prince  promised  secrecy  and  waited  for  the  per- 
formance, not  wholly  hopeless  of  success.  He  visited 
the  work  from  time  to  time,  observed  its  progress,  and 
remarked  many  ingenious  contrivances  to  facilitate 
motion,  and  unite  levity  with  strength.  The  artist 
was  every  day  more  certain  that  he  should  leave  vul- 
tures and  eagles  behind  him,  and  the  contagion  of  his 
confidence  seized  upon  the  prince. 

In  a  year  the  wings  were  finished  ;  and  on  a  morn- 
ing appointed,  the  maker  appeared  furnished  for  flight 
on  a  little  promontory ;  he  waved  his  pinions  awhile 
to  gather  ak,  then  leaped  from  his  stand,  and  in  an 
instant  dropped  into  the  lake.  His  wings ^  which  were 
of  no  use  in  the  air,  sustained  him  in  the  water,  and 
the  prince  di'ew  iiim  to  land,  half  dead  with  terror  and 
vexation. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PRINCE  FINDS  A  MAN   OF  LEARNING. 

The  prince  was  not  much  afflicted  by  this  disaster, 
having  suffered  himself  to  hope  for  a  happier  event, 
only  because  he  had  no  other  means  of  escape  in  view. 
He  still  persisted  in  his  design  to  leave  the  happy  val- 
ley by  the  fii-st  opportunity. 

His  imagination  was  now  at  a  stand ;  he  had  no 
prospect  of  entering  into  the  world;  and,  notwith- 
standing all  his  endeavors  to  support  himself,  discon- 
tent by  degrees  preyed  upon  him,  and  he  began  again 
to  lose  his  thoughts  in  sadness,  when  the  rainey  sea- 
son, which  in  these  countries  is  periodical,  made  it  in- 
convenient to  wander  in  the  woods. 

The  rain  continued  longer  and  with  more  violence 
than  had  ever  been  known;  the  clouds  broke  on  the 
surrounding  mountains,  and  the  torrents  streamed  into 
the  plain  on  every  side,  till  the  cavern  was  too  narrow 
to  discharge  the  water.  The  lake  overflowed  its  banks, 
and  all  the  level  of  the  valley  was  covered  with  the  in- 
undation.   Tiie  eminence  on  which  the  palace   was 


RASSELAS.  17 

built  and  some  other  spots  of  rising  ^ound  were  all 
that  the  eye  could  now  discover.  The  herds  and 
flocks  left  the  pastures,  and  both  the  wild  beasts  and 
the  tame  retreated  to  the  mountains. 

This  inundation  confined  all  the  princes  to  domestic 
amusements,  and  the  attention  of  Kasselas  was  partic- 
ularly seized  by  a  poem,  which  Imlac  rehearsed,  upon 
the  varions  conditions  of  humanity.  He  commanded 
the  poet  to  attend  him  in  his  apartment  and  recite  his 
verses  a  second  time;  then  entering  into  familiar  talk, 
he  thought  himself  happy  in  having  found  a  man  who 
knew  the  world  so  well,  and  could  so  skilfully  paiiit 
the  scenes  of  life.  He  asked  a  thousand  questions 
about  things,  to  which,  though  common  to  all  other 
mortals,  his  confinement  from  childhood  had  kept  him 
a  stranger.  The  poet  pitied  his  ignorance  and  loved 
his  curiosity,  and  entertained  him  from  day  to  day  with 
novelty  and  instruction,  so  that  the  prince  regretted 
the  necessity  of  sleep  and  longed  till  the  morning 
should  renew  his  pleasure. 

As  they  were  sitting  together,  the  prince  com- 
manded Imlac  to  relate  his  history,  and  to  tell  by  what 
accident  he  was  forced,  or  by  what  motive  induced,  to 
close  his  life  in  the  happy  valley.  As  he  was  going  to 
begin  his  narrative,  Rasselas  was  called  to  a  concert, 
and  obliged  to  restrain  his  curiosity  till  the  evening. 


CHAPTER  Vin. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  IMLAC. 

The  close  of  the  day  is,  in  the  regions  of  the  torrid 
zone,  the  only  season  of  diversion  and  entertainment, 
and  it  was  therefore  midnight  before  the  music  ceased 
and  the  prmcesses  retired.  Rasselas  then  called  for 
his  com^Danion  and  required  him  to  begin  the  story  of 
his  life. 

"  Sir,"  said  Imlac,  "  my  history  will  not  be  long;  the 
life  that  is  devoted  to  knowledge  passes  silently  away, 
and  is  very  little  diversified  by  events.  To  talk  in  pub- 
lic, to  think  in  solitude,  to  read  and  to  hear,  to  inquire 
and  answer  inquiries,  is  the  business  of  a  scholar.  He 
wanders  about  the  world  without  pomp  or  terror,  and 
is  neither  known  nor  valued  but  by  men  like  himself. 

"  I  was  born  in  the  kingdoni  of  Goiama,  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  fountain  of  the  Nile.  My  father  was 
a  wealthy  merchant,  who  traded  between  the  inland 
countries  of  Africa  and  the  ports  of  the  Red  Sea.  He 
was  honest,  frugal,  and  diligent,  but  of  mean  senti- 
ments and  narrow  comprehension :  he  desired  only  to 
be  rich,  and  to  con.eeal  his  riches,  lest  he  should  be 
spoiled  by  the  governors  of  the  province." 


18  RASSELAS. 

*'  Surely,"  said  the  prince,  "  my  father  must  be  neg- 
ligent of  his  charge,  if  any  man  in  his  dominions  dares 
take  that  which  belongs  to  another.  Does  he  not 
know  that  kings  are  accountable  for  injustice  per- 
mitted as  well  as  done  ?  If  I  were  emperor,  not  the 
meanest  of  my  subjects  should  be  oppressed  with  im- 
punity. My  blood  boils  Vhen  I  am  told  that  a  mer- 
chant durst  not  enjoy  his  honest  gains  for  fear  of 
losing  them  by  the  rapacity  of  power.  Name  the  gov- 
ernor who  robbed  the  people  that  I  may  declare  his 
crimes  to  the  emperor." 

*'  Sir,"  said  Imlac,  "  your  ardor  is  the  natural  effect 
of  virtue  animated  by  youth;  the  time  will  come  when 
you  will  acquit  your  father,  and  perhaps  hear  with  less 
impatience  of  the  governor.  Oppression  is,  in  the 
Abyssinian  dominions,  neither  frequent  nor  tolerated; 
but  no  form  of  government  has  yet  been  discovered  by 
which  cruelty  can  be  wholly  prevented.  Subordina- 
tion supposes  power  on  the  one  part  and  subjection  on 
the  other,  and  if  power  be  in  the  hands  of  men  it  will 
sometimes  be  abused.  The  vigilance  of  the  supreme 
magistrate  may  do  much,  but  much  will  still  remain 
undone.  He  can  never  know  all  the  crimes  that  are 
committed,  and  can  seldom  punish  all  that  he  knows." 

"This,"  said  the  prince,  "I  do  not  understand,  but 
I  had  rather  hear  thee  than  dispute.  Continue  thy 
narration." 

"  My  father,"  proceeded  Imlac,  "  originally  intended 
that  I  should  have  no  other  education  than  such  as 
might  qualify  me  for  commerce;  and,  discovering  in 
me  great  strength  of  memory  and  quickness  of  appre- 
hension, often  declared  his  hope  that  I  should  be  some 
time  the  richest  man  in  Abyssinia." 

"  Wh}^,"  said  the  prince,  "  did  thy  father  desire  the 
increase  of  his  wealth,  when  it  was  already  greater 
than  he  durst  discover  or  enjoy  ?  I  am  unwilling  to 
doubt  thy  veracity,  yet  inconsistencies  cannot  both  be 
true." 

"Inconsistencies,"  answered  Imlac,  "cannot  both 
be  right;  but,  imputed  to  man,  they  may  both  be  true. 
Yet  diversity  is  not  inconsistency.  My  father  might 
expect  a  time  of  greater  security.  However,  some  de- 
sire is  necessary  to  keep  life  In  motion;  and  he  whose 
real  wants  are  supplied  must  admit  those  of  fancy." 

"This,"  said  the  prince,  "I  can  in  some  measure 
conceive.    I  repent  that  I  interrupted  thee." 

"  With  this  hope,"  proceeded  Imlac,  "  he  sent  me  to 
school;  but  when  I  had  once  found  the  delight  of 
knowledge,  and  felt  the  pleasure  of  intelligence  and 
the  pride  of  invention,  I  began  silently  to  despise 
riches,  and  determined  to  disappoint  the  purpose  of  my 
father,  whose  grossness  of  conception  raised  my  pity. 


RASSELAS.  .19 

I  was  twenty  years  old  before  his  tenderness  would  ex- 
pose ine  to  tlie  fatigue  of  travel,  in  which  time  I  had 
been  instructed,  by  successive  masters,  in  all  the  liter- 
ature of  my  native  country.  As  every  hour  taught  nie 
somethmg  new,  I  lived  in  a  continual  course  of  gratifi- 
cations; but  as  I  advanced  toward  manhood  I  lost 
much  of  the  reverence  with  Vhich  I  had  been  used  to 
look  on  my  instructors;  because,  when  the  lesson  was 
ended,  I  did  not  find  them  wiser  or  better  than  com- 
mon men. 

"  At  length  my  father  resolved  to  initiate  me  in  com- 
merce; and  opening  one  of  his  subterranean  treas- 
uries counted  out  ten  thousand  pieces  of  gold.  '  This, 
young  man,'  said  he,  '  is  the  stock  with  which  you 
must  negotiate.  I  began  with  less  than  the  fifth  part, 
and  you  see  how  diligence  and  parsimony  have  in- 
creased it.  This  is  yom*  own  to  waste  or  to  imj)rove. 
If  you  squander  it  by  negligence  or  caprice,  jou  must 
wait  for  my  death  before  you  will  be  rich;  if  in  four 
years  you  double  your  stock,  we  will  thenceforward 
let  subordination  cease,  and  live  together  as  friends 
and  partners;  for  he  shall  be  always  equal  with  me 
who  is  equally  skilled  in  the  art  of  growhig  rich.'" 

"  We  laid  our  money  upon  camels,  concealed  in 
hales  of  cheap  goods,  and  travelled  to  the  shore  of  the 
Eed  Sea.  When  I  cast  my  eye  upon  the  expanse  of 
waters,  my  heart  hounded  like  that  of  a  jDrisoner  es- 
caped. I  felt  an  unextinguishable  curiosity  kindle  in 
my  mind  and  resolved  to  snatch  this  opportunity  of 
seeing  the  manners  of  other  nations,  and  of  learnmg 
sciences  unknown  in  Abyssinia. 

"I  remembered  that  my  father  had  obliged  me  to 
the  improvement  of  my  stock,  not  by  a  promise  which 
I  ought  not  to  violate,  but  by  a  penalty  which  I  Avas  at 
liberty  to  incur;  and  therefore  determined  to  gi-atify 
my  predominant  desire,  and,  by  drinking  at  the  foun- 
tains of  knowledge,  to  quench  the  thirst  of  curiosity. 

*'  As  I  was  supposed  to  trade  without  connection 
with  my  father,  it  was  easy  for  me  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  master  of  a  ship  and  procure  a  pas- 
sage to  some  other  country.  I  had  no  motives  of 
choice  to  regulate  my  voyage;  it  was  sufficient  for  me 
that  wherever  I  wandered  I  should  see  a  country  which 
1  had  not  seen  before,  I  therefore  entered  a  ship 
bound  for  Surat,  having  left  a  letter  for  my  father  de- 
claring my  intention." 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  IMLAC  CONTINUED. 
''When  I  first  entered  upon  the  world  of  waters, 
and  lost  sight  of  land,  I  looked  round    about   me 


20  RASSELAS. 

with  pleasing  terror,  and,  thinking  my  soul  enlarged 
by  the  boundless  prospect,  imagined  that  I  could  gaze 
round  without  satiety;  but  in  a  short  time  I  grew 
weary  of  looking  on  barren  uniformity,  where  I  could 
only  see  again  what  I  had  already  seen.  I  then  de- 
scended into  the  ship  and  doubted  for  a  while  whether 
all  my  future  pleasm-es  would  not  end  like  this,  in  dis- 
gust and  disappointment.  Yet  surely,  said  I,  the  ocean 
and  the  land  are  very  different;  the  only  variety  of 
water  is  rest  and  motion,  but  the  eartli  has  mountains 
and  valleys,  deserts  and  cities;  it  is  inhabited  my  men 
of  different  customs  and  contrary  opinions;  and  I  may 
hope  to  find  variety  in  life  though  I  should  miss  it  in 
nature, 

"  With  this  thought  I  quieted  my  mind,  and  amused 
myself  during  the  voyage,  sometimes  by  learning  from 
the  sailors  the  art  of  navigation,  which  I  have  never 
practised,  and  sometimes  by  forming  schemes  for  my 
conduct  in  different  situations,  in  not  one  of  which  I 
have  ever  been  placed. 

"  I  was  almost  weary  of  my  naval  amusements  when 
we  landed  safely  at  Surat.  1  secured  my  money,  and 
purchasing  some  commodities  for  show,  joined  myself 
to  a  caravan  that  was  passing  into  the  inland  country. 
My  companions,  for  some  reason  or  other,  conjectur- 
ing that  I  was  rich,  and,  by  my  inquiries  and  admha- 
tion,  finding  that  I  was  ignorant,  considered  me  as  a 
novice  whom  they  had  a  right  to  cheat,  and  who  was  to 
learn  at  the  usual  expense  the  art  of  fraud.  They  ex- 
posed me  to  the  theft  of  servants  and  the  exaction  of 
officers,  and  saw  me  plundered  upon  false  pretences, 
without  any  advantage  to  themselves  but  that  of  rejoic- 
ing in  the  superiority  of  then"  own  knowledge." 

"  Stop  a  moment,"  said  the  prince.  "  Is  there  such 
depravity  in  man  as  that  he  should  injure  another 
without  benefit  to  himself?  I  can  easily  conceive  that 
all  are  pleased  with  superiority;  but  your  ignorance 
was  merely  accidental,  which  being  neither  your  crime 
nor  your  folly,  could  afford  them  no  reason  to  applaud 
themselves;  and  the  knowledge  which  they  had,  and 
which  you  wanted,  they  might  as  effectually  have 
shown  by  warning  as  betraying  you. 

"Pride,"  said  Imlac,  "is  seldom  delicate;  it  will 
please  itself  with  very  mean  advantages;  and  envy 
feels  not  its  own  happiness  but  when  it  may  be  com- 
pared with  the  misery  of  others.  They  were  my  ene- 
mies because  they  grieved  to  think  me  rich,  and  my 
oppressors  because  they  delighted  to  find  me  weak." 

"Proceed,"  said  the  prince;  "I  doubt  not  of  the 
facts  which  you  relate,  but  imagine  that  you  impute 
them  to  mistaken  motives." 


RAS8ELAS.  21 

"  In  this  company,"  said  Inilac,  "  1  arrived  at  Agi-a, 
tlie  capital  of  Indostan,  the  city  in  which  tlie  Great 
Mogul  commonly  resides.  I  applied  myself  to  the 
language  of  the  country,  and  in  a  few  months  was  able 
to  converse  with  the  learned  men,  some  of  whom  I 
found  morose  and  reserved,  and  others  easy  and 
communicative;  some  were  unwilling  to  teach  another 
what  they  had  with  difficulty  learned  themselves,  and 
some  showed  that  the  end  of  their  studies  was  to  gain 
the  dignity  of  instructing. 

'*  To  the  tutor  of  the  young  princess  I  recommended 
myself  so  much  that  I  was  presented  to  the  emporer  as 
a  man  of  uncommon  knowledge.  The  emperor  asked 
me  many  questions  concerning  my  country  and  my 
travels;  and  though  I  cannot  now  recollect  anything 
that  he  uttered  above  the  power  of  a  common  man,  he 
dismissed  me  astonished  at  his  wisdom  and  enamom-ed 
of  his  goodness. 

*'My  credit  was  now  so  high  that  the  merchants 
with  whom  I  travelled  applied  to  me  for  recommenda- 
tions to  the  ladies  of  the  court.  I  was  surprised  at 
their  confidence  of  solicitation,  and  gently  reproached 
them  with  their  practices  on  the  road.  They  heard 
me  with  cold  indifference,  and  showed  no  tokens  of 
shame  or  sorrow. 

*'  They  then  urged  their  request  with  the  offer  of  a 
bribe;  but  what  I  would  not  do  for  kindness,  1  would 
not  do  for  money;  and  refused  them,  not  because  they 
had  injured  me,  but  because  I  would  not  enable  them 
to  injure  others;  for  I  knew  they  would  have  made 
use  of  my  credit  to  cheat  those  who  should  buy  their 
wares. 

"  Having  resided  at  Agra  till  there  was  no  more  to 
be  learned,  I  travelled  into  Persia,  where  I  saw  many 
remains  of  ancient  magnificence,  and  observed  many 
new  accommodations  of  life.  The  Persians  are  a  na- 
tion eminently  social,  and  their  assemblies  afforded  me 
daily  opportunities  of  remarking  characters  and  man- 
ners, and  of  tracing  human  nature  through  all  its  vari- 
ations. 

"  From  Persia  I  passed  into  Arabia,  where  I  saw 
a  nation  at  once  pastoral  and  warlike;  who  live  with- 
out any  settled  habitation;  whose  only  wealth  is  their 
flocks  and  herds;  and  who  have  yet  carried  on,  through 
all  ages,  an  hereditary  war  with  all  mankind,  though 
they  neither  covet  nor  envy  theii*  possessions." 


23  RASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

IMIiAC'S    HISTORY    CONTINUED.— A     DISSERTATION 
ON  POETRY, 

"  Wherever  I  went,  I  found  that  poetry  was  con- 
sidei-ed  as  the  highest  learning,  and  regarded  with  a 
veneration  somewhat  approaching  to  that  which  man 
would  pay  to  the  Angelic  Nature.  And  yet  it  fills  me 
with  wonder  that  in  almost  all  countries  the  most  an- 
cient poets  are  considered  as  the  best  j  whether  it  be  that 
every  other  kind  of  knowledge  is  an  acquisition  gradu- 
ally attained,  and  poetry  is  a  gift  conferred  at  once,  or 
that  the  first  poetry  of  every  nation  surpuiaed  them  as 
a  novelty,  and  retained  the  credit  by  consent  which  it 
received  by  accident  at  first;  or  whether,  as  the  pro- 
vince of  poetry  is  to  describe  nature  and  passion,  which 
are  always  the  same,  the  first  writers  took  possession 
of  the  most  striking  objects  for  description  and  the 
most  probable  occurrences  for  fiction,  and  left  nothing 
to  those  that  followed  them,  but  transcription  of  the 
same  events  and  new  combinations  of  the  same  images, 
whatever  be  the  reason,  it  is  commonly  observed  that 
the  early  writers  are  in  possession  of  nature,  and  theu* 
followers  of  art;  that  the  first  excel  in  strength  and 
invention,  and  the  latter  in  elegance  and  refinement. 

"I  was  desirous  to  add  my  name  to  this  illustrious 
fraternity.  I  read  all  the  poets  of  Persia  and  Arabia, 
and  was  able  to  repeat  by  memory  the  volumes  that 
are  suspended  in  the  mosque  of  Mecca.  But  I  soon 
found  that  no  man  was  ever  great  by  imitation.  My 
desire  of  excellence  impelled  me  to  transfer  my  atten- 
tion to  nature  and  to  life.  Nature  was  to  be  my  sub- 
ject, and  men  to  be  my  auditors :  I  could  never  describe 
what  I  had  not  seen :  I  could  not  hope  to  move  those 
with  delight  or  terror  whose  interests  and  opinions  I 
did  not  understand. 

"  Being  now  resolved  to  be  a  poet,  I  saw  everything 
with  a  new  purpose;  my  sphere  of  attention  was  sud- 
denly magnified:  no  kind  of  knowledge  was  to  be 
overlooked.  I  ranged  mountains  and  deserts  for 
images  and  resemblances,  and  pictured  upon  my  mind 
every  tree  of  the  forest  and  flower  of  the  valley.  I  ob- 
served with  equal  care  the  crags  of  the  rock  and  the 
pinnacles  of  the  palace.  Sometimes  I  wandered  along 
the  mazes  of  the  rivulet,  and  sometimes  watched  the 
changes  of  the  summer  clouds.  To  a  poet  nothing  can 
be  useless.  Whatever  is  beautiful  and  whatever  is 
dreadful  must  be  familiar  to  his  imagination :  he  must 
be  conversant  with  all  that  is  awfully  vast  or  elegantly 
little.  The  plants  of  the  garden,  the  animals  of  the 
wood,  the  minerals  of  the  earth  and  meteors  of  tlH> 
sky,  must  all  concur  to  store  his  mind  with  inexhausii- 


RASSELAS.  28 

ble  variety :  for  every  idea  is  useful  for  the  enforce- 
ment or  decoration  of  moral  or  religious  trutli;  and  he 
who  knows  most  will  have  most  i)Ower  of  diversifying 
his  scenes,  and  of  gratifyino-  Jus  reader  with  remote 
allusions  and  unexpected  instruction. 

"  All  the  appearances  of  nature  I  was  therefore  care- 
ful to  study;  and  evei*}' country  which  1  have  surveyed 
has  contributed  something  to  my  poetical  powei'S." 

"  In  so  wide  a  survey,"  said  the  prince,  "  you  must 
surely  have  left  much  unobserved.  I  liave  lived,  till 
now,  within  the  circuit  of  these  mountains,  and  yet 
cannot  walk  abroad  without  the  sight  of  something 
whieli  I  had  never  beheld  before  or  never  heeded." 

*'  The  business  of  a  poet,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  to  exam- 
ine, not  the  individual  but  the  species;  to  remark  gen- 
eral properties  and  large  appearances;  he  does  not 
number  the  streaks  of  the  tulip  or  describe  the  different 
shades  in  the  verdure  of  the  forest.  He  is  to  exhibit  in 
his  portraits  of  nature  such  prominent  and  striking  f  ea- 
tm*es  as  recall  the  original  to  every  mind;  and  must  neg- 
lect the  minuter  discriminations,  which  one  may  have  re- 
marked, and  another  have  neglected,  for  those  char- 
acteristics which  are  alike  obvious  to  vigilance  and 
carelessness. 

"  But  the  knowledge  of  nature  is  only  half  the  task 
of  a  poet;  he  must  be  acquainted  likewise  with  all  the 
modes  of  life.  His  character  requires  that  he  estimate 
the  happiness  and  misery  of  every  condition,  observe 
the  power  of  all  the  passions  in  all  then'  combinations, 
and  trace  the  changes  of  the  human  mind  as  they  are 
modified  by  various  institutions  and  accidental  influ- 
ences of  climate  or  custom,  from  the  sprightliness  of 
infancy  to  the  despondence  of  decrepitude.  He  must 
divest  himself  of  the  prejudices  of  his  age  or  country; 
he  must  consider  right  and  wrong  in  their  abstracted 
and  invariable  state;  he  must  disregard  present  laws 
and  opinions,  and  rise  to  general  and  transcendental 
truths,  which  will  always  be  the  same;  he  must  there- 
fore content  himself  with  the  slow  progi-ess  of  his 
name;  contemn  the  applause  of  his  own  time,  and 
commit  his  claims  to  the  Justice  of  posterity.  He  must 
write  as  the  interpreter  oi  nature  and  the  legislator  of 
mankind,  and  consider  himself  as  presiding  over  the 
thoughts  and  manners  of  future  generations;  as  a  be- 
ing superior  to  time  and  place. 

''His  labor  is  not  yet  at  an  end;  he  must  know  many- 
languages  and  many  sciences;  and,  that  his  style  may 
be  worthy  of  his  thoughts,  must,  by  incessant  practice, 
familiarize  to  himself  every  delicacy  of  speech  and 
grace  of  harmony.'* 


24  RASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

IMLAC'S   NARRATIVE   COISTTmUED,  — A  HIXT  01^  PIL- 
GRIMAGE. 

Imlac  now  felt  the  enthusiastic  lit,  and  was  pro- 
ceeding to  aggrandize  liis  own  profession  wlien  the 
prince  cried  out,  "Enough!  thou  hast  convinced  me 
that  no  human  being  can  ever  be  a  jioet.  Proceed  with 
tliy  narration." 

*'  To  be  a  poet,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  indeed  very  diffi- 
cult." 

*'  So  difficult,"  returned  the  prince,  "  that  I  will  au 
present  hear  no  more  of  his  labors.  Tell  me  whither 
you  went  when  you  had  seen  Persia." 

"  From  Persia,"  said  the  poet,  "I  travelled  through 
Syria,  and  for  tlii'ee  years  resided  in  Palestine,  where 
I  conversed  with  great  numbers  of  the  northern  and 
western  nations  of  Europe;  the  nations  which  are  now 
in  possession  of  all  power  and  all  knowledge;  whose 
armies  are  irresistible,  and  whose  fleets  command  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  globe.  When  I  compared  these 
men  with  the  natives  of  our  own  kingdom,  and  those 
that  surround  us,  they  appeared  almost  another  order 
of  beings.  In  their  countries  it  is  difficult  to  wish  for 
anything  that  may  not  be  obtained :  a  thousand  arts, 
of  which  we  never  heard,  are  continually  laboring  foi- 
their  convenience  and  pleasure;  and  whatever  their 
own  chmate  has  denied  them  is  supplied  by  theii- 
commerce." 

"  By  what  means,  "  said  the  prince,  "  are  the  Euro- 
peans thus  powerful ;  or  why,  since  they  can  so  easily 
visit  Asia  or  Africa  for  trade  or  conquest,  cannot  the 
Asiatic  and  Africans  invade  their  coasts,  plant  colonies 
in  their  ports,  and  give  laws  to  their  natural  princes  ? 
The  same  wind  that  cal-ries  them  back  would  bring 
us  thither,  " 

"They  are  more  powerful,  sir,  than  we,  "answered 
Imlac,  "  because  they  are  wiser;  knowledge  will  always 
predominate  over  ignorance,  as  man  governs  the  other 
animals.  But  why  their  knowledge  is  more  than  ours 
I  know  not  what  reason  can  be  given  but  the  unsearch- 
able will  of  the  Supreme  Being.  " 

"When,"  said  the  prince,  with  a  sigh,  "shall  I  be 
able  to  visit  Palestine,  and  mingle  with  this  mighty  con- 
fluence of  nations  ?  Till  that  happy  moment  shall 
arrive,  let  me  flll  up  the  time  with  such  representations 
as  thou  canst  give  me.  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  mo- 
tive that  assembles  such  numbers"  in  that  place,  and 
cannot  but  consider  it  as  the  centre  of  wisdom  and  ]:»iety , 
to  which  the  best  and  wisest  of  every  land  must  be  coii- 
tinually  resorting. " 


RASSRLAS.  35 

"  There  are  some  nations,"  saidlmlac,  "  tliat  send 
few  visitants  to  Palestine  ;  for  many  numerous  and 
learned  sects  in  Europe  concur  to  censure  pilgrimage 
as  superstitious,  or  deride  it  as  ridiculous.  " 

"  You  know,  "  said  the  prince,  ''how  little  my  life 
has  made  me  acquainted  with  diversity  of  opinions  : 
it  will  be  too  long  to  hear  the  arguments  on  both  sides; 
you  that  have  considered  them,  tell  me  the  residt." 

"  Pilgrimage,  "  said  Imlac,  "  hke  many  other  acts  of 
piety,  may  be  reasonable  or  superstitious,  according  to 
the  principles  upon  which  it  is  performed.  Long  jour- 
neys in  search  of  truth  are  not  commanded.  Truth, 
such  as  is  necessary  to  the  regulation  of  life,  is  always 
found  where  it  is  honestly  sought.  Change  of  place  is 
no  natural  cause  of  the  increase  of  piety,  for  it  inevita- 
bly produces  dissipation  of  mind.  Yet  since  men  go 
every  day  to  view  the  fields  where  great  actions  have 
been  performed,  and  return  with  stronger  impressions 
of  the  event,  curiosity  of  the  same  kind  may  naturally 
dispose  us  to  view  that  country  whence  our  religion 
had  its  beginning  ;  and  I  beheve  no  man  surveys  those 
awful  scenes  witliout  some  confirmation  of  holy  res- 
olutions. That  the  Supreme  Being  may  be  more  easi- 
ly propitiated  in  one  place  than  in  another  is  the 
dream  of  idle  superstition;  but  that  some  places  may 
operate  upon  our  minds  in  an  uncommon  manner  is  an 
opinion  which  hourly  experience  will  justify.  He 
who  supposes  that  his  vices  may  be  more  successfully 
combated  in  Palestine  will,  perhaps,  find  himself  mis- 
taken ;  yet  he  may  go  thither  without  folly  :  he  who 
thinks  they  will  be  more  freely  pardoned  dishonors  at 
once  his  reason  and  religion.  " 

"These,  "said the  prince,  "are  European  distinc- 
tions. I  will  consider  them  another  time.  What  have 
you  found  to  be  the  effect  of  knowledge?  Are  those 
nations  haj^pier  than  we  ?  ' ' 

"  There  is  so  much  infelicity,"  said  the  poet,  "  in  the 
world,  that  scarce  any  man  lias  leisure  from  his  own 
distresses  to  estimate  the  comparative  happiness  of 
others.  Knowledge  is  certainly  one  of  the  means  of 
pleasure,  as  is  confessed  by  the  natural  desire  which 
every  mind  feels  of  increasing  its  ideas,  i  Ignorance 
is  mere  privation,  by  which  nothing  can  be  produced  : 
it  is  a  vacuity  in  which  the  soul  sits  motionless  and 
torpid  for  want  of  attraction;  and,  without  knowing 
why,we  always  rejoice  when  we  learn  and  grieve  when 
we  forget.  I  am  therefore  inclined  to  conclude  that  if 
nothmg  counteracts  the  natural  consequence  of  learn- 
ing, we  grow  more  happy  as  our  minds  take  a  wider 
range. 

"In  enumerating  the  particular  comforts  of  life, 
we  shall    find  many  advantages  on   the  side  of  the 


26  RASSELAS. 

Europeans.  They  cure  wounds  and  diseases  with 
which  we  languish  and  perish.  We  suffer  inclemen- 
cies of  weather  which  they  can  obviate.  They  have 
engines  for  the  dis])atch  of  many  laborious  works 
which  we  must  performby  manual  industry.  There 
is  such  conmiunication  between  distant  places 
that  one  friend  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  absent  from 
another.  Their  policy  removes  all  public  inconven- 
iences ;  they  have  roads  cut  through  their  mountains, 
and  bridges  laid  upon  their  rivers.  And  if  we  descend 
to  the  privacies  of  life,  their  habitations  are  more  com- 
modious   and  their  possessions  are  more  secure.  " 

"They  are  surely  happj^ '' said  the  prince,  "  who 
have  ail  these  conveniences,  of  which  I  envy  none  so 
much  as  the  facility  with  which  separated  friends  inter- 
change their  thoughts.  " 

"  The  Europeans,  "  answered  Tmlac,  "  are  less  un- 
happy than  we,  but  they  are  not  happy.  Human 
life  is  everjrwhere  a  state  in  which  much  is  to  be 
endured  and  little  to  be  enjoyed." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  STORY  OF  IMLAC   CONTII^-UED. 

"I  AM  not  yet  willing,"  said  the  prince,  "  to  sup- 
pose that  happiness  is  so  parsimoniously  distributed 
to  mortals;  nor  can  believe  but  that,  if  I  had  the  choice 
of  life,  I  should  be  able  to  fill  every  day  with  pleasure. 
I  would  injure  no  man,  and  should  provoke  no  re- 
sentment; I  would  relieve  every  distress,  and  should 
enjoy  the  benedictions  of  gratitude.  I  would  choose 
my  friends  among  the  wise  and  my  wife  among  the 
virtuous;  and  therefore  should  be  in  no  danger  from 
treachery  or  unkindness.  My  children  should,  by  my 
care,  be  learned  and  pious,  and  would  repay  to  my  age 
what  their  childhood  had  received.  What  would  dare 
to  molest  him  who  might  call  on  every  side  to  thou- 
sands enriched  by  his  bounty  or  assisted  by  his  power? 
And  why  should  not  life  glide  quietly  away  in  the 
'soft  reciprocation  of  protection  and  reverence  ?  All 
this  may  be  done  without  the  help  of  European 
refinements,  which  appear  by  then-  effects  to  be  rather 
specious  than  useful.  Let  us  leave  them,  and  pursue 
our  journey  " 

"  From  Palestine,  "  said  Imlac,  "  I  passed  through 
many  regions  of  Asia,  in  the  more  civilized  kingdoms 
as  a  trader,  and  among  the  barbarians  of  the  mountains 
as  a  pilgrim.  At  last  I  began  to  long  for  my  native 
country,  that  I  might  repose,  after  my  travels  and  fa- 


EASSELAS.  27 

tlgues,  in  the  places  where  I  had  spent  my  earliest  years, 
and  gladden  my  old  companions  with  the  I'ecital  of  my 
adventures.  Often  did  I  figure  to  myself  those  witii 
whom  I  had  sported  away  the  gay  liours  of  dawning 
life,  sitting  round  me  in  its  evening,  wondering  at  my 
tales  and  listening  to  my  counsels. 

"  When  this  tliought  had  taken  possession  of  my 
mind,  I  considered  every  moment  as  wasted  which  did 
not  bring  me  nearer  to  Abyssinia.  I  hastened  into 
Egypt,  and  notwithstanding  my  impatience,  was  de- 
tained ten  months  in  the  contemplation  of  its  ancient 
magnificence  and  in  inquiries  after  the  remains  of  its 
ancient  learning.  I  found  in  Cairo  a  mixture  of  all 
nations;  some  brought  thither  by  the  love  of  knowl- 
edge, some  by  the  hope  of  gain,  and  many  by  the- 
desire  of  living  after  then-  own  manner  without  ob- 
servation, and  of  lying  hid  in  the  obscurity  of  multi- 
tudes ;  for  in  a  city  populous  as  Cairo  it  is  possible 
to  obtain  at  the  same  time  the  gratifications  of  society 
and  the  secrecy  of  solitude. 

*' From  Caho  I  travelled  to  Suez  and  embarked  on 
the  Red  Sea,  passing  along  the  coast  till  I  arrived 
at  the  port  from  which  I  had  departed  twenty  years 
before.  Here  I  joined  myself  to  a  caravan  and  re- 
entered my  native  country. 

"■  I  now  expected  the  caresses  of  my  kinsmen  and 
the  congratulations  of  my  friends,  and  was  not  without 
hope  that  my  father,  whatever  value  he  had  set  upon 
riches,  would  own  with  gladness  and  pride  a  son  who 
was  able  to  add  to  the  felicity  and  honor  of  the  nation. 
But  I  was  soon  convinced  that  my  thoughts  were  vain. 
My  father  had  been  dead  fourteen  years,  having  divid- 
ed his  wealth  among  my  brothers,  who  were  removed 
to  some  other  provinces.  Of  my  companions  the  great- 
er ]jart  was  in  the  grave;  of  the  rest,  some  could  with 
difficulty  remember  me,  and  some  considered  me  as  one 
coi'rupted  by  foreign  manners. 

"  A  man  used  to' vicissitudes  is  not  easily  dejected. 
I  forgot,  after  a  time,  my  disappointment,  and  endeav- 
ored to  recommend  myself  to  the  nobles  of  the  king- 
dom; they  admitted  me  to  their  tables,  heard  ni}^  story, 
and  dismissed  me.  I  opened  a  school,  and  was  pro- 
hibited to  teach;  I  then  resolved  to  sit  down  in  the 
quiet  of  domestic  life,  and  addressed  a  lad}^  ihat  was 
fond  of  my  conversation,  but  rejected  my  suit  because 
my  father  was  a  merchanr. 

"Wearied  at  last  with  solicitation  and  repulses,  I 
resolved  to  hide  myself  forever  from  the  world,  and 
depend  no  longer  on  the  opinion  or  ca])rice  of  others. 
I  waited  for  a  time  when  the  gate  of  the  happy  valley 
should  open,  that  I  might  bid  farewell  to  hope  and 
fear:  the  day  came;  my  performanc  e  was  distinguished 


28  ^ASfeELAS. 

with  favor,  and  1  resigned  myselt  -wiih  joy  to  perpetual 
conrinerneiit." 

'•Hast  thou  here  found  happiness  at  last?  Tell  me 
without  reserve;  art  thou  content  with  thy  condition  ? 
or  dost  thou  wish  to  be  again  wandering  and  inquiring? 
All  the  inhabitants  of  this  valley  celebrate  their  lot,  and 
at  tlie  annual  visit  of  the  emperor  invite  others  to  par 
take  of  tlieir  felicity." 

"  Great  prince,"  said  Imlac,  "  I  shall  speak  the  trutii  3 
1  know  not  one  of  all  your  attendants  who  does  not  la. 
nient  the  hour  when  he  entered  this  retreat.  I  am  less 
unhappy  than  the  rest,  because  1  have  a  mind  replete 
with  images,  which  I  can  vary  and  combine  at  pleas, 
ure.  I  can  amuse  my  solitude  by  the  renovation  of 
the  knowledge  which  begins  to  fade  from  my  memory 
and  by  recollections  of  the  incidents  of  my  past  life. 
Yet  all  this  ends  in  the  sorrowful  consideration  that  my 
acquirements  are  now  useless,  and  that  none  of  my 
pleasures  can  be  again  enjoyed.  The  rest,  whoso 
minds  have  no  impression  but  that  of  the  present  mo- 
ment, are  either  corroded  by  malignant  passions  or  sit 
stupid  in  the  gloom  of  perpetual  vacancy." 

"  What  passions  can  infest  those,"  said  the  prince, 
"  who  have  no  rivals?  We  are  in  a  place  where  im- 
l^otence  precludes  malice,  and  whei'e  all  envy  is  re- 
pressed by  community  of  enjoyments." 

"There  may  be  community,"  said  Imlac,  "of  ma 
terial  possessions,  but  there  can  never  be  community  et 
love  or  of  esteem.  It  must  happen  that  one  will  pleasb 
more  than  another;  he  that  knows  himself  despisev:^ 
will  always  be  envious;  and  still  more  envious  and  ma- 
levolent if  he  is  condemned  to  live  in  the  presence  of 
those  who  despise  liim.  The  invitations  bj-  which  they 
allure  others  to  a  state  which  they  feel  to  be  wretched 
proceed  from  the  natural  malignity  of  hopeless  misery. 
They  are  weary  of  themselves  and  of  each  other,  and 
expect  to  find  relief  in  new  companions.  They  envy 
the  liberty  which  their  folly  has  forfeited,  and  would 
gladly  see  all  mankind  imprisoned  like  themselves." 

"From  this  crime,  however,  I  am  wholly  free.  No 
man  can  say  that  he  is  wretched  by  my  persuasion.  I 
look  with  pity  on  the  crowds  who  are  annually  solicit- 
ing admission  into  captivity,  and  wish  that  it  was  law- 
ful for  me  to  warn  them  of  their  danger. 

"  My  dear  Imlac,"  said  the  prince,  "  I  will  open  to 
thee  my  whole  heart.  I  have  long  meditated  an  es- 
cape from  the  happy  valley,  1  have  examined  the 
mountains  on  every  side,  and  find  myself  insuperably 
barred;  teach  me  the  way  to  break  my  prison;  thou 
shalt  be  the  companion  of  my  flight,  the  guide  of  my 
rambles,  the  partner  of  my  fortune,  and  my  sole  direc- 
tor in  the  choice  of  life.'' 


RASSELAS.  29 

*' Sii-,  **  answered  tlie  poet,  ''your  escape  will  be 
difficult;  and  perhaps  you  may  soon  repent  your  curi- 
osity. The  world,  which  you  figure  to  yourself  smooch 
and  quiet  as  the  lake  in  the  valley,  you  will  find  a  sea 
foaming  with  tempests  and  boiling  with  whirlpools; 
you  will  be  sometimes  overwhelmed  with  the  waves  of 
violence,  and  sometimes  dashed  against  the  rocks  of 
treachery.  Amid  wrongs  and  frauds,  competitions 
and  anxieties,  you  will  wish  a  thousand  times  for  these 
♦seats  of  quiet,  and  willingly  quit  hope  to  be  free  from 
.  fear." 

"  Do  not  seek  to  deter  me  from  my  purpose,"  said 
the  prince;  "I  am  impatient  to  see  what  thou  hast 
seen;  and  since  thou  art  thyself  weary  of  the  valley, 
it  is  evident  that  thy  former  state  was  better  than  this. 
Whatever  be  the  consequence  of  my  experiment,  I  am 
resolved  to  judge  with  mine  own  eyes  of  the  various 
conditions  of  men,  and  then  to  make  deliberately  my 
choice  of  life.'" 

"lam  afraid,"  said  Imlac,  ^'you  are  hindered  by 
stronger  restraints  than  my  persuasions;  yet,  if  your 
determination  is  fixed,  I  do  not  counsel  you  to  despair. 
Few  things  are  impossible  to  diligence  and  skill." 


CHAPTER  Xlll. 

RASSELAS  DISCOVERS  THE  MEANS  OF  ESCAPE. 

The  prince  now  dismissed  his  favorite  to  rest,  but 
the  narrative  of  wonders  and  novelties  filled  his  mind 
with  perturbation.  He  revolved  all  that  he  had  heard, 
and  prepared  innumerable  questions  for  the  morning. 

Much  of  his  uneasiness  was  now  removed.  He  had 
a  friend  to  whom  he  could  impart  his  thoughts,  and 
whose  experience  could  assist  him  in  his  designs.  His 
heart  was  no  longer  condemned  to  swell  in  silent  vexa- 
tion. He  thought  that  even  the  happy  valley  might  be 
endured  with  such  a  companion ;  and  that  if  they  could 
range  the  world  together,  he  should  have  nothing  fur- 
ther to  desire. 

In  a  few  days  the  water  was  discharged,  and  the 
ground  dried.  The  prince  and  Imlac  then  walked  out 
together  to  converse  without  the  notice  of  the  rest. 
The  prince,  whose  thoughts  were  always  on  the  wing, 
as  he  passed  by  the  gate,  said,  with  a  countenance  of 
sorrow,  "Why  art  thou  so  strong,  and  why  i*  man  so 
weak?" 

"Man  is  not  weak,"  answered  his  companion; 
'*  knowledge  is  more  than  equivalent  to  force.  The 
master  of  mechanics  laughs  at  strength.    I  can  bm'st 


30  RASSELAS. 

the  gate,  but  cannot  do  it  secretly.  Some  other  ex- 
X)e(lient  must  be  tried." 

As  they  were  walking  on  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
they  observed  that  they  conies,  which  the  rain  had 
driven  from  their  burrows,  had  taken  shelter  among 
tiie  bushes  and  formed  holes  behind  them,  tending 
upward  in  an  oblique  line.  "  It  has  been  the  opinion 
of  antiquity,"  said  Inilac,  "that  human  reason  bor- 
rowed many  arts  from  tiie  instinct  of  animals;  let  us, 
therefore,  not  think  ourselves  degraded  by  learning 
from  the  cony.  We  may  escape  by  piercing  the  j noun- 
tain  in  the  same  direction.  We  will  begin  where  the 
summit  hangs  over  the  middle  part,  and  labor  upward 
till  we  shall  issue  up  beyond  the  prominence." 

The  eyes  of  the  prince,  when  he  heard  this  proposal, 
sparkled  with  Joy.  The  execution  was  easy  and  the 
success  certain. 

No  time  was  now  lost.  They  hastened  early  in  the 
morning  to  choose  a  place  proper  for  their  mind.  They 
clambered  with  great  fatigue  among  crags  and  bram- 
bles, and  returned  without  having  discovered  any  part 
that  favored  their  design.  The  second  and  third  day 
were  spent  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
frustration.  But  on  the  fourth  they  found  a  small 
cavern,  concealed  by  a  thicket,  where  they  resolved  to 
make  their  experiment. 

Imlac  procured  instruments  proper  to  hew  stone  and 
remove  earth,  and  they  fell  to  their  work  the  next  day 
v^ilh  more  eagerness  than  vigor.  They  were  presently 
exhausted  by  their  efforts,  and  sat  down  to  pant  upon 
the  grass.  The  prince  for  a  moment  appeared  to  be 
discouraged.  *'  Sir,"  said  his  companion,  "  practice 
will  enable  us  to  continue  our  labor  for  a  longer  time; 
mark,  however,  how  far  we  have  advanced,  and  you 
will  find  that  our  toil  will  some  time  have  an  end. 
Great  works  are  performed,  not  by  strength,  but  per- 
severance; yonder  palace  was  raised  by  single  stones, 
yet  you  see  its  height  and  spaciousness.  He  that  shall 
walk  with  vigor  three  hours  a  day  will  pass  in  seven 
years  a  space  equal  to  the  circumference  of  the  globe." 

They  returned  to  their  work  day  after  daj-;  and  in  a 
sliort  time  found  a  fissure  in  the  rock  which  enabled 
them  to  pass  far  with  very  little  obstruction.  This 
Rasselas  considered  as  a  good  omen. 

"Do  not  disturb  your  mind,"  said  Imlac,  "with 
other  hopes  or  fears  than  reason  may  suggest :  if  you 
iare  pleased  with  prognostics  of  good,  you  will  be  ter- 
ritied  likewise  with  tokens  of  evil,  and  your  whole  life 
will  be  a  prey  to  superstition,  fWhatever  fueilitates 
our  work  is  more  than  an  omen,  it  is  a  cause  of  suc- 
cess.   This  is  one  of  those  pleasing  surprises  which 


RASSELAS.  31 

often  happen  to  active  resolution.      Many  things  diffi- 
cult to  design  prove  easy  to  performance. '1 


CHAPITER  XIV, 

RASSELAS    AND  IMLAC  RECEIVE  AN  UNEXPECTED 

VISIT. 

They  had  now  wrought  their  way  to  the  middle, 
and  solaced  their  thoughts  with  the  approach  of 
liberty,  when  the  prince,  coining  down  to  refresh  him- 
self with  air  found  his  sister  Nekayah  standing  before 
the  mouth  of  the  cavity.  He  started  and  stood  con- 
fused, afraid  to  tell  his  design,  and  yet  hopeless  to 
conceal  it.  A  few  moments  determined  him  to  repose 
on  her  fidelity,  and  secure  her  secrecy  by  a  declara- 
tion without  i-eserve, 

"  Do  not  imagine,"  said  the  princess,  "  that  I  came 
hither  as  a  spyj'l  had  long  observed  from  my  window 
that  you  and  Imlac  directed  your  walk  every  clay  to- 
ward tlie  same  point,  but  I  did  not  suppose  you  had  any 
better  reason  for  the  preference  than  a  cooler  shade  or 
more  fragrant  bank  j  nor  followed  you  with  any  other 
design  than  to  partake  of  your  conversation.  Since, 
then,  not  suspicion  but  fondness  has  detected  you,  let 
me  not  lose  the  advantage  of  my  discovery.  I  am 
equally  weary  of  confinement  with  yourself,  and  not 
less  desirous  of  knowing  wliat  is  done  or  sulTered  in  the 
world.  Permit  me  to  fiy  with  you  from  tliis  tasteless 
tranquility,  which  will  yet  grow  more  loathsome  when 
you  have  left  me.  You  may  deny  me  to  accompany 
you,  but  cannot  hinder  me  from  following." 

The  prince,  who  loved  Nekayah  above  his  other  sis- 
ters, had  no  inclination  to  refuse  her  request,  and 
grieved  that  he  had  lost  an  opportunity  of  showing  his 
confidence  by  a  voluntary  communication.  It  was 
therefore  agreed  that  she  should  leave  tlie  valley  with 
them;  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  she  should  watch 
lest  any  other  straggler  should,  by  chance  or  curiosity, 
follow  tliem  to  theinountain. 

At  length  their  labor  was  at  an  end  :  they  saw  light 
beyond  the  prominence,  and,  issuing  to  the  top  of  the 
mountain  beheld  the  Nile,  yet  a  narrow  current,  wan- 
dering beneath  them. 

The  prince  looked  round  with  rapture,  anticipated 
all  tile  pleasure  of  travel,  and  iii  thought  was  already 
transported  beyond  his'  fathei''s  dominions.  Imlac, 
though  very  joyful  at  his  escape,  had  less  expectation 
of  pleasure  iii  the  world,  which  he  had  before  tried, 
^xid  of  which  he  had  been  weary. 


83  RASSELAS. 

Rasselas  was  so  much  delighted  with  a  wider  horizon 
tliat  he  could  not  soon  be  persuaded  to  return  into  tlie 
valley.  He  informed  his  sister  that  the  way  was  open, 
and  that  nothing  now  remained  hut  to  prepare  for 
their  departure. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  PRINCE  AND   PRINCESS    LEAVE    THE   VALLEY, 
AND  SEE  MANY  WONDERS. 

The  prince  and  princess  had  jewels  sufficient  to 
make  them  rich  whenever  they  came  into  a  place  of 
commerce,  which,  by  Imlac's  direction,  they  might 
hide  in  their  clothes ;  and,  on  the  night  of  the  next 
full  moon  all  left  the  valley.  The  princess  was  fol- 
lowed only  by  a  single  favorite,  who  did  not  know 
whither  she  was  going. 

They  clambered  through  the  cavity  and  began  to  go 
down  on  the  other  side.  The  princess  and  her  maid 
turned  their  eyes  toward  every  part,  and  seeing  noth- 
ing to  bound  their  prospect,  considered  themselves  as 
in  danger  of  being  lost  in  a  d4-eary  vacuity.  They 
stopped  and  trembled.  "1  am  almost  afraid,"  said 
the  princess,  "  to  begin  a  journey  of  which  I  cannot 
perceive  an  end,  and  to  venture  into  this  immense 
plain,  where  I  may  be  approached  on  every  side  by 
men  whom  I  never  saw."  The  prince  felt  nearly  the 
same  emotions,  though  he  thought  it  more  manly  to 
conceal  them. 

Imlac  smiled  at  their  terrors  and  encouraged  them 
to  proceed  ;  but  the  princess  continued  irresolute  till 
she  had  been  imperceptibly  drawn  forward  too  far  to 
return. 

In  the  morning  they  found  some  shepherds  in  the 
field,  who  set  milk  and  fruits  before  them.  The  prin- 
cess wondered  that  she  did  not  see  a  palace  ready  for 
her  reception,  and  a  table  spread  with  delicacies  ;  but, 
being  faint  and  hungry,  she  drank  the  milk  and  ate 
the  fruits,  and  thought  them  of  a  higher  flavor  than 
the  products  of  the  valley. 

They  traveled  forward  by  easy  journeys,  being  all 
unaccustomed  to  toil  or  difficulty,  and  knowing  that 
though  they  might  be  missed,  they  could  not  be  pur- 
sued. In  a  few  days  they  came  into  a  more  ]-)Opulou^t 
region,  where  Imlac  was  diverted  with  the  admiratioit 
which  his  companions  expressed  at  the  diversity  ot 
manners,  stations,  and  employments. 

Then-  dress  was  such  as  might  not  bring  upon  them 
the  suspicion  of  having  anything  to  conceal]  yet  the 


RASSELAS.  88 

prince,  wherever  he  came,  expected  to  be  obeyed,  and 
the  princess  was  friglitened  because  those  that  came 
into  her  presence  did  not  prostrate  themselves  before 
her.  Imlac  was  forced  to  observe  them  with  great 
vigilance,  lest  they  slionld  betray  their  rank  by  their 
unusual  behavior,  and  detained  them  several  weelcs  in 
the  first  village,  to  accustom  them  to  tlie  sight  of  com- 
mon mortals. 

By  degrees  the  royal  wanderers  were  taught  to  un- 
derstand that  they  had  for  a  time  laid  aside  their  dig- 
nity, and  were  to  expect  only  such  regard  as 
liberality  and  courtesy  could  procure.  And  Im- 
lac having,  by  many  admonitions,  prepared  them  to 
endure  the  tumults  of  a  port  and  the  ruggedness  of  the 
commercial  race,  brought  them  down  to  the  sea-coast. 

The  prince  and  his  sister,  to  whom  everything  was 
new,  were  gratified  equally  at  all  jDlaces,  and  there- 
fore remained  for  some  months  at  the  port,  without  any 
inclination  to  pass  farther.  Imlac  was  content  with 
their  stay,  because  he  did  not  think  it  safe  to  expose 
them,  unpractised  in  the  world,  to  the  hazards  of  a 
foreign  country. 

At  last  he  began  to  fear  lest  they  should  be  dis- 
covered, and  proposed  to  fix  a  day  for  their  depart- 
ure. They  had  no  pretensions  to  judge  for  them- 
selves, and  referred  the  whole  scheme  to  his  direction. 
He  therefore  took  passage  in  a  ship  to  Suez  ;  and, 
when  the  time  came,  with  great  difficulty  prevailed  on 
the  princess  to  enter  the  yessel.  They  had  a  quick 
and  prosperous  voyage  j  and  from  Suez  traveled  by 
land  to  Cairo. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THEY  ENTER   CAIRO,   AND   FIND   EVERY  MAN 
HAPPY. 

As  they  approached  the  city,  which  filled  the 
strangers  with  astonishment,  "  This,"  said  Imlac  to  the 
prince,  "is  the  place  where  travelers  and  merchants 
assemble  from  all  the  corners  of  the  earth.  You  will 
here  find  men  of  every  character  and  every  occupation. 
Commerce  is  here  honorable:  I  will  act  as  a  merchant 
who  has  no  other  end  of  travel  than  curiosity;  it  will 
soon  be  observed  that  we  are  rich;  our  reputation  will 
procure  us  access  to  all  whom  we  shall  desire  to  know; 
you  will  see  all  the  conditions  of  humanity,  and  enable 
yourself  at  leisure  to  make  your  cJioice  of  life." 

They  now  entered  the  town,  stunned  by  the  noise 
and  offended  by  the  crowds.    Instruction  had  not  yet 


34  KASSELAS. 

so  prevailed  over  habit  but  that  tliey  wondered  to  see 
themselves  pass  undistinguished  along  the  street,  and 
met  by  the  lowest  of  the  people  without  reverence  or 
notice.  The  princess  could  not  at  first  bear  the  thought 
of  being  levelled  with  the  vulgar,  and  for  some  days 
continued  in  her  chamber,  where  she  was  served  by 
her  favorite  Pekuah  as  in  the  palace  of  the  valley. 

Imlac,  who  understood  traffic,  sold  part  of  the  Jewels 
the  next  day,  and  hired  a  house,  which  he  adorned 
with  such  magnificence  that  he  was  immediately  con- 
sidered as  a  merchant  of  great  wealth.  His  politeness 
attracted  many  acquaintance,  and  his  generosity  made 
him  courted  by  many  dependents.  His  table  was 
crowded  by  men  of  every  nation,  who  all  admired  liis 
knowledge  and  solicited  his  favor.  His  companions, 
not  being  able  to  mix  in  the  conversation,  could  make 
no  discovery  of  their  ignorance  or  surprise,  and  were 
gradually  initiated  in  the  world  as  they  gained  knovsl- 
edge  of  the  language. 

The  prince  had, "by  frequent  lectures,  been  taught 
the  use  and  nature  of  money;  but  the  ladies  could  not 
for  a  long  time  comprehend  what  the  merchants  did 
with  small  pieces  of  gold  and  silver,  or  why  things  of 
so  little  use  should  be  received  as  equivalent  to  the 
necessaries  of  life. 

They  studied  tlie  language  two  years,  while  Imlac 
was  preparing  to  set  before  them  the  various  ranks  and 
conditions  of  mankind.  He  grew  acquainted  with  all 
who  had  anything  uncommon  in  their  fortune  or  con- 
duct. He  frequented  the  voluptuous  and  tiie  frugal, 
the  idle  and  the  bus}^  the  merchants  and  the  men  of 
learning. 

The  prince  being  now  able  to  converse  with  fluency, 
and  having  learned  the  caution  n'ecessary  to  be  observed 
in  his  intercourse  with  strangers,  began  to  accompany 
Imlac  to  places  of  resort,  and  to  enter  into  all  assem- 
blies, that  he  might  make  his  cJioice  of  life. 

For  some  time  he  thought  choice  needless,  because 
all  appeared  to  him  equally  happy.  Wherever  he 
went  he  met  gayety  and  kindness,  and  heard  the  song 
of  joy  or  the  "laugh  of  carelessness.  He  began  to  be- 
lieve that  the  world  overflowed  with  universal  plenty, 
and  that  nothing  was  withheld  eitlier  from  want  or 
merit;  that  every  hand  showered  liberality,  and  every 
heart  melted  with  benevolence;  "  and  who,  then,"  says 
he,  '•  will  be  suftered  to  be  wretched?  " 

Imlac  permitted  the  pleasing  delusion,  and  was  un- 
willing to  crush  the  hope  of  inexperience,  till  one  day, 
having  sat  awhile  silent,  "I  know  not,"  said  the 
prince,  "what  can  be  the  reason  that  I  am  more  un- 
happy than  any  of  our  friends.  I  see  them  perpetually 
and  unalterably  cheerful,  but  feel  uiy  own  mind  rest- 


RASSELAkS.  35 

less  and  uneasy.  I  am  unsatisfied  witli  those  i)leasures 
which  I  seem  most  to  court.  I  live  in  the  crowds  of 
jolHty,  not  so  mucli  to  enjoy  company  as  to  shun  my- 
self, and  am  only  loud  and  merry  to  conceal  my 
sadness." 

^'' Every  man,"  said  Inilac^  "may  by  examining  his 
own  mind  guess  what  passes  in  the  mhids of  others: 
when  you  feel  that  your  own  gayety  is  counterfeit,  it 
may  juJitly  lead  you  to  suspect  that  of  your  compan- 
ions not  to  he  sincere^  Envy  is  commonly  reciprocal. 
We  are  long  before  we  are  convinced  that  happiness  is 
never  to  be" found,  and  each  believes  it  possessed  by 
otheis  to  keep  alive  the  hope  of  obtaining  it  for  him- 
self. In  the  assembly  where  j^ou  passed  tiie  last  night 
there  appeared  such  sprightliness  of  air  and  volatility 
of  fancy  as  might  have  suited  beings  of  a  higher  order 
formed  to  inhabit  serener  regions,  inaccessible  to  care 
or  sorrow;  yet  believe  me,  prince ^  there  was  not  one 
who  did  not  dread  the  moment  when  solitude  should 
deliver  him  to  the  tyranny  of  reflection." 

"This,"  said  the  prince,  "may  be  true  of  others, 
since  it  is  true  of  me  ;  yet  whatever  be  the  general 
infelicity  of  man,  one  condition  is  more  happy  than 
another,  and  wisdom  surely  directs  us  to  take  the  least 
evil  in  the  choice  of  life  J' 

"The  causes  of  good  and  evil,"  answered  Imlac, 
"  are  so  various  and  uncertain,  so  often  entangled  with 
each  otlier,  so  diversified  by  various  relations,  and  so 
much  subject  to  accidents  which  cannot  be  foreseen, 
that  he  wiio  would  fix  his' condition  upon  incontestable 
reasons  of  preference  must  live  and  die  inquiring  and 
deliberating." 

"  But  surely,"  said  Rasselas,  "the  wise  men,  to  whom 
we  listen  with  reverence  and  wonder,  chose  that  mode 
of  life  for  themselves  which  they  thought  most  lilvely 
to  make  them  happy." 
yi  Very  few,"  said  the  poet,  "  live  by  choice.  Every 
man  is  placed  in  his  present  condition  by  causes  which 
acteil  without  his  foi'esight,  ajid  with  which  he  did  not 
always  willingly  co-0[)erate;j  and  therefore  you  will 
rarely  meet  one  who  does  not  think  the  lot  of  his  neigh- 
bor better  than  his  own." 

"I  am  pleased  to  think,"  said  the  prince,  "that 
my  birth  has  given  me  at  least  one  advantage  over 
others,  by  enabling  me  to  determine  for  myself.  I 
have  here  the  world  before  me.  I  will  review  it  at 
leisure ;  surely  happiness  is  somewhere  to  be  found." 


36  KASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    PRINCE    ASSOCIATES    WITH     YOUN©    MEN    OF 
SPIRIT  AND  GAYETY. 

RasselAS  rose  next  day,  and  resolved  to  begin  his 
experiments  upon  life.  "Youth,"  cried  he,  "is  the 
time  of  gladness  :  I  will  join  myself  to  the  young  men 
whose  only  business  is  to  gratify  their  desires,  and 
whose  time  is  all  spent  in  a  succession  of  enjoyments." 
To  such  societies  he  was  readily  admitted  j  but  a 
few  days  brought  him  back  weary  and  disgusted. 
Their  mirth  was  without  images  ;  their  laughter  with- 
out motive  ;  their  pleasures  were  gross  and  sensual, 
in  which  the  mind  had  no  part;  their  conduct  was  at 
once  wild  and  mean  j  they  laughed  at  order  and  law  : 
but  the  frown  of  power  dejected  and  the  eye  of  wisdom 
abashed  them. 

The  prince  soon  concluded  that  he  should  never  be 
happy  in  a  course  of  life  of  which  he  was  ashamed. 
He  thought  it  uu suitable  to  a  reasonable  being  to  act 
without  ^  plan,  and  to  be  sad  or  cheerful  only  by 
chance.  [  "  Happiness,"  said  he,  "  must  be  something 
solid  an(i  permanent,  without  fear  and  without  uncer- 
tainty."7 

But  his  young  companions  liad  gained  so  much  of 
his  regard  by  their  frankness  and  courtesy  that  he 
could  not  leave  them  without  warning  and  remon- 
strance. "My  friends,"  said  he,  "I  have  seriously 
considered  our  manners  and  our  prospects,  and  find 
that  we  have  mistaken  our  own  interest.  The  first 
years  of  man  must  make  provision  for  the  last.  He 
that  never  thinks  never  can  be  wise.  Perpetual  levity 
must  end  in  ignorance  ;  and  intemperance,  tliough  it 
may  fire  the  spirits  for  an  liour,  will  make  life  short  or 
miserable.  Let  us  consider  that  youth  is  of  no  long 
duration,  and  that  in  maturer  age,  when  the  encliant- 
ments  of  fancy  shall  cease,  and  phantoms  of  delight 
dance  no  more  about  us,  we  shall  have  no  comforts 
but  the  esteem  of  wise  men,  and  the  means  of  doing 
good.  Let  us,  therefore,  stop  while  to  stop  is  in  our 
power ;  let  us  live  as  men  who  are  some  time  to  grow 
old,  and  to  whom  it  will  be  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
evils  not  to  count  their  past  years  by  follies,  and  to  be 
reminded  of  their  former  luxuriance  of  health  only  by 
the  maladies  which  riot  has  produced." 

They  stared  awhile  in  silence  one  upon  another,  and 
at  last  drove  Mm  away  by  a  general  chorus  of  contin- 
ued laughter. 

The  consciousness  that  his  sentiments  were  just  and 
his  intentions  kind  was  scarcely  sufficient  to  support 


RASSELAS.  87 

him  agaiiigt  the  horror  of  derision.    But  he  recovered 
traaquility  and  x)ursued  his  search. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  PRINCE  FINDS  A  WISK  AND  HAPPY  MAN. 

As  he  was  one  day  walkino-  in  the  street,  he  saw  a 
spacious  building,  which  all  were,  by  the  open  doors, 
invited  to  enter  ;  he  followed  the  stream  of  people,  and 
found  it  a  hall  or  school  of  declamation,  in  which  pro- 
fessors read  lectures  to  then-  auditory.  He  fixed  his 
eye  upon  a  sage  raised  above  the  rest,  who  discoursed 
with  great  energy  on  the  government  of  the  passions. 
His  look  was  venerable,  his  action  graceful,  his  pro- 
nunciation clear,  and  his  diction  elegant.  He  showed 
with  great  strength  of  sentiment  and  variety  of  illus- 
tration, that  human  nature  is  degraded  and  debased 
when  the  lower  faculties  predominate  over  the  higher; 
that  when  fancy,  the  parent  of  passion,  usurps  the 
dominion  of  the  mind,  nothing  ensues  but  the  natural 
effect  of  unlawful  government,  perturbation,  and  con- 
fusion ;  that  she  betraj^s  the  fortresses  of  the  intellect 
to  rebels,  and  excites  her  children  to  sedition  against 
reason,  their  lawful  sovereign.  He  compared  reason 
to  the  sun,  of  which  the  light  is  constant,  uniform, 
and  lasting ;  and  fancy  to  a  meteor,  of  bright  but  tran- 
sitory lustre,  irregular  in  its  motion  and  delusive  in  its 
direction. 

He  then  communicated  the  various  precepts  given 
from  time  to  time  for  the  conquest  of  passion,  and  dis- 
played the  happiness  of  those  who  had  obtained  the 
important  victory,  after  which  man  is  no  longer  the  slave 
of  fear  nor  the  fool  of  hope  ;  is  no  more  emaciated  by 
envy,  inflamed  by  anger,  emasculated  by  tenderness, 
or  depressed  by  grief  ;  but  walks  on  calmly  through 
the  tumults  or  privacies  of  life,  as  the  sun  pursues  alike 
his  course  through  the  calm  or  the  stormy  sky. 

He  enumerated  many  examples  of  heroes  immov- 
able by  pain  or  pleasure,  who  looked  with  indifference 
on  those  modes  or  accidents  to  which  the  vulgar  give 
the  names  of  good  and  evil.  He  exhorted  his  hearers 
to  lay  aside  their  prejudices  and  arm  themselves  against 
the  shafts  of  malice  or  misfortune,  by  invulnerable 
patience  ;  concluding  that  this  state  only  was  happi- 
ness and  that  this  happiness  was  in  eYery  one's  power. 

Rasselas  listened  to  him  with  the  veneration  due  to 
the  instructions  of  a  superior  being  ;  and,  waiting  for 
him  at  the  door,  humbly  implored  the  liberty  of  visit- 
ing so  great  a  master  of  true  wisdom .    The  lecturer 


38  RASSELAS. 

hesitated  a  moment,  when  Rasselas  put  a  purse  of  gjold 
into  his  hand,  which  he  received  with  a  mixture  of  joy 
and  wonder. 

*'  I  have  found,"  said  the  prince,  at  his  return  to  Im- 
lac,  "  a  man  who  can  teach  all  that  is  necessary  to  be 
known,  who,  from  the  unshaken  throne  of  rational  for- 
titude, looks  down  on  the  scenes  of  life  changing  be- 
neath him.  He  Si:»eaks,  and  attention  watches  his 
lips.  He  reasons,  and  conviction  ©loses  his  periods. 
This  man  shall  be  my  future  guide  :  I  will  learn  his 
doctrines  and  imitate  his  life." 

"  Be  not  too  hasty,"  said  Imlac,  "to  trust  or  to  ad- 
mire the  teachers  of  morality ;  they  discourse  like 
angels,  but  they  live  like  men." 

Rasselas,  who  could  not  conceive  how  any  man 
could  reason  so  forcibly  without  feeling  the  cogency  of 
his  own  arguments,  paid  his  visit  in  a  few  days,  and 
was  denied  admission.  He  had  now  learned  the  power 
of  money,  and  made  his  way  by  a  piece  of  gold  to  the 
inner  apartment,  where  he  found  the  philosopher  in  a 
room  half  darkened,  with  his  eyes  misty  and  his  face 
pale.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  you  are  come  at  a  time  when 
all  human  friendship  is  useless  ;  what  I  suffer  cannot 
be  remedied,  what  I  iiave  lost  cannot  be  supplied.  My 
daughtei-,  my  only  daughter,  from  whose  tenderness  1 
expected  all  the  comforts  of  my  age,  died  last  night  of 
a  fever.  My  views,  my  purposes,  my  hopes  are  at  an 
end.  I  am  now  a  lonely  being  disunited  from  so- 
ciety." 

*'  Sir,"  said  the  prince,  "  mortality  is  an  event  by 
which  a  wise  man  can  never  be  surprised  :  we  know 
that  death  is  always  near,  and  it  should  therefore  al- 
ways be  expected."  "  Young  man,"  answered  the 
philosopher,  "  you  speak  like  one  that  has  never  felt 
the  pangs  of  separation."  "  Have  you  then  forgot  the 
precepts,"  said  Rasselas,  "which  you  so  powerfully 
enforced  ?  Has  wisdom  no  strength  to  arm  the  heart 
against  calamity  ?  Consider  that  external  things  are 
naturally  variable,  but  truth  and  reason  are  always  the 
same."  "What  comfort,"  said  the  mourner,  "can 
truth  and  reason  afford  me  ?  of  what  effect  are  they  now 
but  to  tell  ine  that  my  daughter  will  not  be  restored?  " 

The  prince,  wiiose  humanity  would  not  suffer  him  to 
insult  misery  with  reproof,  went  away  convinced  of 
the  emptiness  of  rhetorical  sound  and  the  mefficacy  of 
polished  periods  and  studied  sentences. 


RASSELAS.  SO 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  PASTORAL  LIFE. 

He  was  still  eager  upon  the  same  inqiiirj' ;  and 
having  heard  of  a  hermit  that  lived  near  the  lowest 
cataract  of  the  Nile,  and  filled  the  whole  country  with 
the  fame  of  his  sanctity,  resolved  to  visit  his  retre:it, 
and  inquire  whether  that  felicity  which  public  life 
could  not  afford  was  to  be  found  in  solitude,  and 
whether  a  man  whose  age  and  virtue  made  him  vener- 
able could  teach  any  peculiar  art  of  shunning  evils  or 
enduring  them  ? 

Imlac  and  the  princess  agreed  to  accompany  him  ; 
and,  after  tlie  necessary  preparations,  they  began 
their  journey.  Their  way  lay  through  the  fields, 
where  shepherds  tended  their  flocks  and  the  lambs 
were  playing  upon  the  pasture.  "  This,"  said  the  poet, 
"is  the  life  which  has  been  often  celebrated  for  its 
innocence  and  quiet ;  let  us  pass  the  heat  of  the  day 
among  the  shepherds'  tents,  and  know  whether  all 
our  searches  are  not  to  terminate  in  pastoral  simplicity." 

The  proposal  pleased  them,  and  they  induced  the 
she[)herds^  by  small  presents  and  familiar  questions, 
to  tell  their  opinion  of  their  own  state  ;  tliey  were  so 
rude  and  ignorant,  so  little  able  to  compare  the  good 
with  the  evil  of  the  occupation,  and  so  indistinct  in 
their  narratives  and  descriptions,  that  very  little  could 
be  learned  from  them.  But  it  was  evident  that  their 
hearts  were  cankered  with  discontent  j  thac  they  con- 
sidered themselves  as  condemned  to  labor  for  the  lux- 
ury of  the  rich,  and  looked  up  with  stupid  malevo- 
lence toward  those  that  were  placed  above  them. 

The  princess  pronounced  with  vehemence  that  she 
would  never  suffer  these  envious  savages  to  be  her  com- 
panions, and  that  she  should  not  soon  be  desirous 
of  seeing  any  more  specimens  of  rustic  happiness  ;  but 
could  not  believe  that  all  the  accounts  of  primeval 
pleasures  were  fabulous  ;  and  was  yet  in  doubt  whether 
life  had  anything  that  could  be  justly  preferred  to  the 
placid  gratifications  of  fields  and  woods.  She  hoped 
tliat  the  time  would  come  when,  with  a  few  virtuous 
and  elegant  companions,  she  should  gather  flowers 
planted  by  her  own  hand,  fondle  the  lambs  of  her  own 
ewe,  and  listen,  without  care,  among  brooks  and 
breezes,  to  one  of  her  maidens  reading  in  the  shade. 


40  RASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  XX, 

THE  DANGER  OF  PROSPERITY. 

On  the  next  day  rliey  continued  their  journey  till  the 
heat  compelled  them  to  look  round  for  shelter.  At  a 
small  distance  they  saw  a  thick  wood,  which  they  no 
sooner  entered  than  they  perceived  that  they  were  ap- 
proaching the  habitations  of  men.  The  shrubs  were 
diligently  cut  away  to  open  walks  where  the  shades 
were  darkest ;  the  boughs  of  op]DOsite  trees  were  arti- 
ficially interwoven  ;  seats  of  flowery  turf  were  raised 
in  vacant  spaces;  and  a  rivulet  that  wantoned  along 
the  side  of  a  winding  path  had  its  banks  sometimes 
opened  into  small  basins,  and  its  stream  sometimes  ob- 
structed by  little  mounds  of  stone  heaped  together  to 
increase  its  murmurs. 

They  passed  slowly  through  the  wood,  delighted  with 
such  unexpected  accommodations,  and  entertained  each 
other  with  conjectiuing  what  or  who  he  could  be  that, 
in  those  rude  and  unfrequented  regions,  had  leisure 
and  art  for  such  harmless  luxury. 

As  they  advanced,  they  heard  the  sound  of  music, 
and  saw  youths  and  virgins  dancing  in  the  grove;  and, 
going  still  farther,  beheld  a  stately  palace,  built  upon 
a  hill  surrounded  with  woods.  The  laws  of  eastern 
hospitality  allowed  them  to  enter,  and  the  master 
welcomed  them  like  a  man  liberal  and  wealthy. 

He  was  skilful  enough  in  appearances  soon  to  discern 
that  they  were  no  common  guests,  and  spread  his  table 
with  magnificence.  The  eloquence  of  Imlac  caught 
his  attention,  and  the  lofty  courtesy  of  the  princess  ex- 
cited his  respect.  When  they  olfered  to  depart  he  en- 
treated their  staj^,  and  was  the  next  day  still  more  un- 
willing to  dismiss  them  than  before.  They  were  easily 
persuaded  to  stop,  and  civility  grew  up  in  time  to  free- 
dom and  confidence. 

The  prince  now  saw  all  the  domestics  cheerful,  and 
all  the  face  of  nature  smiling  round  the  place,  and 
could  not  forbear  to  hope  that  he  should  find  here 
what  he  was  seeking;  but  when  he  was  congratu- 
lating the  master  upon  his  possessions, he  answered  with 
a  sigh,  "  My  condition  has  indeed  the  aj^peai-ance  of 
happiness,  but  appearances  are  delusive.  My  prosper- 
ity puts  my  life  in  danger;  the  Bassa  of  Egypt  is  my 
enemy,  incensed  only  b\^  my  wealth  and  popularity. 
I  have  hitherto  been  protected  against  him  by  the 
princes  of  the  country;  but  as  the  favor  of  the  great 
s  uncertain,  I  know  not  how  soon  my  defenders  may 
e  persuaded  to  share  the  plunder  with  the  Bassa.  I 
ave  sent  my  treasures  into  a  distant  country,  and 
upon  the  first  alarm  am  prepared  to  follow  them ,     Then 


RASSELAS.  41 

will  my  enemies  riot  in  my  mansion  and  enjoy  the  gar- 
dens which  I  have  planted." 

They  all  joined  in  lamentinoj  his  danger  and  depre- 
cating his  exile;  and  the  princess  was  so  much  dis- 
tui'bed  with  the  tumult  of  grief  and  indignation  that 
she  retired  to  her  apartment. 

They  continued  with  their  kind  inviter  a  few  days 
longer,  and  then  went  forward  to  find  the  hermit. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE    HAPPINESS    OP      SOLITUDE.— THE     HERMIT'S 
HISTORY. 

They  came  on  the  third  day,  by  the  direction  of  the 
peasants,  to  the  hermit's  cell.  It  was  a  cavern  in  the 
side  of  a  mountain,  overshadowed  with  palm-trees;  at 
such  a  distance  from  the  cataract  that  nothing  more 
was  heard  than  a  gentle  uniform  murmur,  such  as 
composed  the  mind  to  pensive  meditation,  especially 
when  it  was  assisted  by  the  wind  whistling  among  the 
branches.  The  first  rude  essay  of  nature  had  been  so 
much  improved  by  human  labor  that  the  cave  con- 
tained several  apartments  appropriated  to  diiferent 
uses,  and  often  afforded  lodging  to  travelers  whom 
darkness  or  tempests  happened' to  overtake. 

The  hermit  sat  on  a  bench  at  the  door  to  enjoy  the 
coolness  of  the  evening.  On  one  side  lay  a  book  with 
pens  and  papers,  on  the  other  mechanical  instruments 
of  various  kinds.  As  they  approached  him  unregarded, 
the  princess  observed  that  he  had  not  the  countenance 
of  a  man  that  had  found  or  could  teach  the  way  to  hap- 
piness. 

They  saluted  him  with  great  respect,  which  he  repaid 
like  a  man  not  unaccustomed  to  the  forms  of  the 
courts.  '*My  children,"  said  he,  "if  you  have  lost 
your  way,  you  shall  be  willingly  supplied  with  such 
conveniences  for  the  night  as  this  cavern  will  afford.  I 
have  all  that  nature  requires,  and  you  will  not  expect 
delicacies  in  a  hermit's  cell." 

They  thanked  him,  and,  entering,  were  pleased  with 
the  neatness  and  regularity  of  the  place.  The  hermit 
set  flesh  and  wine  before  them,  though  he  fed  only 
upon  fruits  and  water.  His  discourse  was  cheerful 
without  levity,  and  pious  without  enthusiasm.  He 
soon  gained  the  esteem  of  his  guests,  and  the  prin- 
cess repented  of  her  hasty  censure. 

At  last  Imlac  began  thusj  *'I  do  not  now  wonder 
that  your  reputation  is  so  far  extended ;  we  have  heard 
at  Cairo  of  your  wisdom,  and  came  hither  to  implore 


42  RASSELAS. 

yonr  direction  for  this  young  man  and  maiden  in  the 
choice  of  life."" 

"To  him  that  hves  well,"  answered  the  hermit, 
"  every  form  of  life  is  good;  nor  can  I  give  any  other 
rule  for  choice  than  to  remove  from  all  apparent  evil." 

"  He  will  remove  most  certainly  from  evil,"  said  the 
prince,  "  who  shall  devote  himself  to  that  solitude 
which  you  have  recommended  by  yom-  example." 

"  I  liave  indeed  lived  fifteen  years  in  solitude,"  said 
the  hermit,  "  but  have  no  desire  that  my  examjjle 
should  gain  any  imitators.  In  my  youth  I  ])i-ofessed 
aiTiis,  and  was  raised  by  degrees  to  the  highest  mili- 
tary rank.  I  have  traversed  wide  countries  at 
the  head  of  my  troops,  and  seen  many  battles 
and  sieges.  At  last,  being  disgusted  by  the  pre- 
ferments of  a  younger  officer,  and  feeling  that  my 
vigor  was  beginning  to  decay.  I  resolved  to  close 
my  life  in  peace,  having  found  the  world  full  of 
snares,  discord,  and  misery.  I  had  once  escaped 
from  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  by  the  shelter  of  this 
cavern,  and  therefore  chose  io  for  my  final  residence. 
I  employed  artificers  to  form  it  into  chambers,  and 
stored  it  with  all  that  I  was  likely  to  want. 

"  For  some  time  after  my  retreat,  I  rejoiced  like  a 
tempest-beaten  sailor  at  his  entrance  into  the  harbor, 
being  delighted  with  the  sudden  change  of  the  noise 
and  hurry  of  war  to  stillness  and  repose.  When  the 
pleasures  of  novelty  went  away,  I  employed  my  hours 
in  examining  the  plants  which  grew  in  the  valley  and 
the  minerals  which  I  collected  from  the  rocks.  But 
that  inquiry  is  now  grown  tasteless  and  irksome.  I 
iiave  been  for  some  time  unsettled  and  distracted;  my 
mind  is  disturbed  with  a  tliousand  perplexities  of  doubt 
and  vanities  of  imagination  which  hourly  prevail  upon 
me,  because  I  have  no  opportunities  of  relaxation  or 
diversion.  I  am  sometimes  ashamed  to  think  that  I 
could  not  secure  myself  from  vice  but  by  retiring  from 
the  exercise  of  virtue,  and  begin  to  suspect  that  I  was 
rather  impelled  by  resentment  than  led  by  devotion 
into  solitude.  My  fancy  riots  in  scenes  of  folly,  and  1 
lament  tliat  I  have  lost  so  much  and  have  gained  s^ 
little.  In  solitude,  if  I  escape  the  example  of  bad 
men,  I  want  likewise  the  counsel  and  conversation  of 
the  good.  I  have  been  long  comparing  the  evils  with 
the  advantages  of  society,  and  resolve  to  return  into 
the  world  to-morrow.  The  life  of  a  solitary  man  will 
be  certainly  miserable  but  not  certainly  devout." 

They  heard  his  resolution  with  surprise,  but  after  a 
short  pause  ofTered  to  conduct  him  to  Cairo.  He  dug 
up  a  considerable  treasure  which  he  had  hid  among  the 
rocks,  and  accompanied  tiiem  to  the  city,  on  which,  as 
he  approached  it,  he  gazed  with  rapture. 


RASSELAS.  43 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

i'HE  HAPPmESS     OF   A    LIFE    LED    ACCORDING   TO 
NATURE. 

RASSELAS  went  often  to  an  assembly  of  learned 
men,  who  met  at  stated  times  to  unbend  their  minds 
and  compare  tlieir  opinions.  Their  manners  were 
somewhat  coarse,  but  their  conversation  was  instruct- 
ive and  their  disputations  acute,  though  sometimes  too 
violent,  and  often  continued  till  neither  controvertist 
i-emembered  upon  what  question  they  began.  Some 
faults  were  almost  general  among  them  :  every  one 
was  desirous  to  dictate  to  the  rest,  and  every  one  was 
l)leased  to  hear  the  genius  or  knowledge  of  another 
depreciated. 

In  this  assembly  Rasselas  was  relating  his  interview 
with  the  hermit,  and  the  wonder  with  which  he  heard 
him  censure  a  course  of  life  which  he  had  so  deliber- 
ately chosen  and  so  laudably  followed.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  hearers  were  various.  Some  were  of 
opinion  that  the  folly  of  his  choice  had  been  justly  pun- 
ished by  condemnation  to  perpetual  perseverance.  One 
of  the  youngest  among  them,  with  great  vehemence, 
pronounced  him  a  hypocrite.  Some  talked  of  the 
right  of  society  to  the  labor  of  individuals,  and  con- 
sidered retirement  as  a  desertion  from  duty.  Others 
readily  allowed  that  there  was  a  time  when  the  claims 
of  the  public  were  satisfied,  and  when  a  man  might 
pi-operly  sequester  himself,  to  review  his  life  and 
purify  his  heart. 

One,  who  ai)peared  more  affected  with  tiie  narrative 
than  the  rest,  thought  it  likely  that  the  hermit  would 
in  a  few  years,  go  back  to  his  retreat,  and  perhaps,  if 
shame  did  not  restrain  or  death  intercept  him,  return 
once  more  from  his  retreat  into  the  world  :  "  For  the 
hope  of  happiness,"  said  he,  "  is  so  strongly  impressed 
that  the  longest  experience  is  not  able  to  efface  it.  Of 
the  present  state,  whatever  it  be,  we  feel,  and  are 
forced  to  confess,  the  misery  ;  yet  when  the  same 
state  is  again  at  a  distance,  imagination  paints  it  as 
desirable.  But  the  time  will  surely  come  when  desire 
will  be  no  longer  our  torment,  and  no  man  shall  be 
wretched  but  by  Ills  own  fault." 

'^  This,"  said  a  philosopher,  who  had  heard  him  with 
tokens  of  great  impatience,  *'is  the  present  condition 
of  a  wise  man.  The  time  is  already  come  when  none 
are  wretched  but  by  their  own  fault.  Nothing  is  more 
idle  than  to  inquire  after  happiness,  which  nature  has 
kindly  placed  within  our  reach.  '11  le  wa}'  to  be  happy 
is  to  live  according  to  nature,  in  obe<lieuce  to  that  uni- 
versal and  unalterabiQ  law  with  which  every  heart  is 


44  RASSELAS. 

originally  impressed  ;  which  is  not  wi'itten  on  it  by 
precept,  but  engraven  by  destiny,  not  instilled  by  edu- 
cation, but  infused  at  our  nativity.  He  that  lives  ac- 
cording to  nature  will  suffer  nothing  from  the  delu- 
sions of  hope  or  importunities  of  desire ;  he  will  re- 
ceive and  reject  with  equability  of  temper,  and  act  or 
sufferas  the  reason  of  things  shall  alternatel}^  prescribe. 
Other  men  may  amuse  themselves  with  subtle  defini- 
tions or  intricate  ratiocinations.  Let  them  learn  to 
be  wise  by  easier  means ;  let  them  observe  the  hind  of 
the  forest  and  the  linnet  of  the  gi'ovej  let  them  con- 
sider the  life  of  animals ;  whose  motions  are  regulated  by 
instinct ;  they  obey  their  guide,  and  are  happy.  Let  us 
therefore,  at  length  cease  to  dispute  and  learn  to  live; 
throw  away  the  incumbrance  of  precepts,  which  they 
who  utter  them  with  so  much  pride  and  pomp  do  not 
understand,  and  carry  with  us  this  simple  and  intel- 
ligible maxim.  That  deviation  from  nature  is  devia- 
tion from  happiness." 

When  he  had  spoken,  he  looked  round  him  with  a 
placid  air,  and  enjoyed  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
beneficence.  "  Sir,"  said  the  prince,  with  great 
modesty,  "as  I,  like  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  am  de- 
sirous of  felicity,  my  closest  attention  has  been  fixed 
upon  your  discourse';  I  doubt  not  the  truth  of  a  position 
which  a  man  so  learned  has  so  confidently  advanced. 
Let  me  only  know  what  it  is  to  live  according  to 
nature?" 

"  When  I  find  young  men  so  humble  and  so  docile," 
said  the  philosopher,  "  I  can  deny  them  no  information 
which  my  studies  have  enabled  me  to  afford.  To  live 
according  to  nature  is  to  act  always  with  due  regard  -to 
the  fitness  arising  from  the  relations  and  qualities  of 
causes  and  effects  ;  to  concur  with  the  great  and  un- 
changeable scheme  of  universal  felicity;  to  co-operate 
with  the  general  disposition  and  tendency  of  the 
present  system  of  things." 

The  prince  soon  found  that  this  was  one  of  the  sages 
whom  he  should  understand  less  as  he  heard  him 
longer.  He  therefore  bowed  and  was  silent;  and  the 
philosopher,  supposing  him  satisfied  and  the  rest  van- 
quished, rose  up  and  departed  with  the  air  of  a  man 
that  had  co-operated  with  the  present  system. 


CHAPTER  XXm. 

THE   PRIKXIE  AND    HIS   SISTER    DIVIDE  BETWEEN 
THEM  THE  WORK  OF   OBSERVATION. 

Rasselas  returned  liorae  full  of  reflections,  doubt- 
ful how  to  direct  his  future  steps.    Of  the  way  to  hap- 


RA8SELAS. '  45 

piness  he  found  the  learned  and  simple  equally 
ignorant;  but  as  he  was  yet  young  he  flattered  himself 
that  he  had  time  remaining  for  more  experiments  and 
further  inquiries.  He  communicated  to  Inilac  his  ob- 
servations and  his  doubts,  bnt  was  answered  by  him 
with  new  doubts,  and  remarks  that  gave  him  no  com- 
fort. He  therefore  discoursed  more  frequently  and 
freely  with  his  sister,  who  had  yet  the  same  hope  with 
himself,  and  always  assisted  him  to  give  some  reason 
why,  though  he  had  beeJi  hitherto  frustrated,  he  might 
succeed  at  last. 

*'  We  have  hitherto,"  said  she,  "  known  but  little  of 
the  world:  we  have  never  yet  been  either  great  or 
mean.  In  our  own  country,  though  we  had  royalty, 
we  had  no  power;  and  in  this  we  have  not  yet  seen  the 
private  recesses  of  domestic  peace.  Imlac  favors  not 
our  search,  lest  we  should  in  time  find  him  mistaken. 
We  will  divide  the  task  betw^een  us:  you  shall  try  what 
is  to  be  found  in  the  splendor  of  courts,  and  I  will 
range  the  shades  of  humbler  life.  Perhaps  command 
and  authority  may  be  the  supreme  blessings,  as  they 
afford  most  opportunities  of  doing  good;  or,  perhaps, 
what  this  world  can  give  may  be  found  in  the  modest 
liabitations  of  middle  fortune;  too  low  for  great  de- 
signs, and  too  high  for  penury  and  distress." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   PRINCE    EXAMINES    THE     HAPPINESS    OF 
HIGH  STATIOA^S. 

Rasselas  applauded  the  design,  and  appeared  next 
day  with  a  splendid  retinue  at  the  court  of  the  Bassa. 
He  was  soon  distinguished  for  his  magnificence,  and 
admitted,  as  a  prince  whose  curiosity  had  brought  him 
from  distant  countries,  to  an  intimacy  with  the  great 
ofiicers  and  frequent  conversation  with  the  Bassa 
himself. 

He  was  at  first  inclined  to  believe  that  the  man  must 
be  pleased  with  his  own  condition  whom  all  approached 
with  reverence,  and  heard  with  obedience,  and  who 
had  the  power  to  extend  his  edicts  to  a  whole  kingdom. 
"There  can  be  no  pleasure,"  said  he,  *'  equal  to  that 
of  feeling  at  once  the  joy  of  thousands  all  made  happy 
by  wise  administration.  Yet,  since  by  the  law  of 
subordination,  this  sublime  delight  can  be  in  one  nation 
but  the  lot  of  one,  it  is  surely  reasonable  to  think  that 
there  is  some  satisfaction  more  popular  and  accessible, 
and  that  millions  can  hardly  be  subjected  to  the  will  of 
a  single  man,  only  to  fill  his  particular  breast  witti 
incommunicable  content." 


46  •  RASSELAS. 

These  thoughts  were  often  hi  his  mind,  and  he  found 
no  solution  of  the  difficulty.  But  as  presents  and 
civilities  gained  him  more  familiarity,  he  found  that 
almost  every  man  who  stood  high  in  employment  hated 
all  the  rest,  and  was  hated  by  them,  and  that  their 
lives  were  a  continual  succession  of  plots  and  detec- 
tions, stratagems  and  escapes,  faction  and  treachery. 
JVJany  of  those  who  suiTOunded  the  Bassa  were  sent 
only  to  watch  and  report  his  conduct;  every  tongue 
was  muttering  censure  and  every  eye  was  searching 
for  a  fault. 

At  last  the  letters  of  revocation  arrived,  the  Bassa 
was  carried  in  chains  to  Constantinople,  and  his  name 
was  mentioned  no  more. 

"What  are  we  now  to  think  of  the  prerogatives  of 
power  ?  "  said  Rasselas  to  his  sister;  '*  is  it  without  any 
efficacy  to  good  ?  or  is  the  subordinate  degree  only 
dangerous,  and  the  supreme  safe  and  glorious  ?  Is  the 
Sultan  the  only  happy  man  in  his  dominions  ?  or  is  the 
Sultan  himself  subject  to  the  torments  of  suspicion  and 
the  dread  of  enemies  ? " 

In  a  short  time  the  second  Bassa  was  deposed.  The 
Sultan  that  had  advanced  him  was  murdered  by  the 
Janizaries,  and  his  successor  had  other  views  and 
different  favorites. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  PRIJyCESS  PURSUES  HER  INQUIRY  WITH  MORE 
DILIGENCE  THAN  SUCCESS. 

The  princess,  in  the  meantime,  insinuated  herself 
into  many  families;  for  there  are  few  doors  through 
whidi  liberality  joined  with  good  humor  cannot  tind  its 
way.  The  daughters  of  many  houses  were  airy  and 
cheerful;  but  Nekayah  had  been  too  long  accustomed 
to  the  conversation  of  Imlac  and  her  brother  to  be 
much  pleased  with  childish  levity  and  prattle  which 
had  no  meaning.  She  found  their  thoughts  narrow, 
their  wishes  low,  and  their  merriment  often  artificial. 
Their  pleasures,  poor  as  they  were,  could  not  be  pre- 
served pure,  but  were  embittered  by  petty  competitions 
and  worthless  emulation.  They  were  always  jealous 
of  the  beauty  of  each  other;  of  a  quality  to  which  solic- 
itude can  add  nothing,  and  from  which  detraction  can 
take  nothing  away.  Many  were  in  love  with  triflers 
like  themselves,  and  many  fancied  that  they  were  in 
love  when  in  truth  they  were  only  idle.  Their  affec- 
tion was  not  fixed  on  sense  or  virtue,  and  therefore 
seldom  ended  but  in  vexation.    Their  grief ,  however, 


RASSELAS.  47 

like  their  joy,  was  transient;^  eveiything  floated  in  their 
mind  unconnected  with  tlie  past  or  future,  so  that  one 
desire  easily  gave  way  to  anotlier,  as  a  second  stone 
cast  into  tlie  water  effaces  and  confounds  tlie  circles  of 
the  first. 

Witli  tliese  girls  she  played  as  with  inoffensive  an- 
imals, and  found  them  proud  of  her  countenance  and 
weary  of  her  company. 

But  her  purpose  was  to  examine  more  deeply,  and 
her  affability  easily  persuaded  the  hearts  that  were 
swelling  with  sorrow  to  discharge  their  secrets  in  her 
ear  j  and  those  whom  hope  flattered  or  prosperity  de- 
lighted often  courted  her  to  partake  their  pleasures. 

The  princess  and  her  brother  commoidy  met  in  the 
evening,  in  a  private  summer-house  on  the  bank  of  the 
Nile,  and  related  to  each  other  the  occurrences  of  the 
day.  As  they  were  sitting  togethei-,  the  princess  cast 
her  eyes  upon  the  river  that  flowed  before  her.  "  An- 
swer," said  she,  "great  father  of  waters,  thou  that 
rollest  thy  floods  through  eighty  nations,  to  the  invo- 
cations of  the  daughter  of  tliy  native  king.  Tell  me  if 
thou  waterest,  through  all  thy  course,  a  single  habita- 
tion from  which  thou  dost  not  here  the  murmurs  of 
complaint  ?" 

"  You  are  then,"  said  Rasselas,  "not  more  success- 
ful in  private  houses  than  I  have  been  in  courts," 

"I  have,  since  the  last  partition  of  our  provinces,"  said 
the  princess,  "  enabled  myself  to  enter  familiarly  into 
many  families,  where  there  was  the  fairest  show  of 
prosperity  and  peace,  and  know  not  one  liouse  that  is 
not  haunted  by  some  fury  that  destroys  their  quiet. 

"I  did  not  seek  ease  among  the  poor,  because  I  con- 
cluded that  there  it  could  not  be  found.  But  I  saw 
many  poor  whom  1  had  supposed  to  live  in  affluence. 
Poverty  has,  in  large  cities,  very  different  appearances : 
it  is  often  concealed  In  splendor  and  often  in  extrava- 
gance. It  is  the  care  of  a  very  great  part  of  mankind 
to  conceal  their  indigence  from  the  rest;  they  support 
themselves  by  temporary  expedients,  and  every  day  is 
lost  in  contriving  for  the  morrow. 

"This,  howev'er,  was  an  evil  which,  though  frequent, 
I  saw  witli  less  pain  because  I  could  relieve  it.  Yet 
some  have  refused  my  bounties,  more  offended  with  my 
quickness  to  detect  their  wants  than  pleased  with  my 
readiness  to  succor  them;  and  others,  whose  exigencies 
compelled  them  to  admit  my  kindness,  have  never 
been  able  to  forgive  their  benefactress.  Many,  how- 
ever, liave  been  sincerely  grateful,  without  the  osten- 
tation of  gratitude  or  the  hope  of  other  favors," 


48  RASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  XXVI, 

THE    PRINCESS     CONTINUES    HER    REMARKS  UPOK" 
PRIVATE  LIFE. 

NekAYAH,  perceiving  her  brotlier's  attention  fixed, 
proceeded  in  her  narrative. 

"  In  families  where  there  is  or  is  not  poverty  there  is 
commonly  discord:  if  a  kingdom  be,  as  Imlac  tells  us, 
a  great  family,  a  family  likewise  is  a  little  kingdom, 
torn  vv^ith  factions  and  exposed  to  revolutions.  An 
unpractised  observer  expects  the  love  of  parents  and 
children  to  be  constant  and  equal;  but  this  kindness 
seldom  continues  beyond  the  years  of  infancy;  hi  a 
short  time  the  children  become  rivals  to  their  parents. 
Benefits  are  allayed  by  reproaches,  and  gratitude  de- 
based by  envy. 

"Parents  and  children  seldom  act  in  concert;  each 
child  endeavors  to  a^Dpropriate  the  esteem  or  fondness 
of  the  parenrs,  and  the  parents,  with  yet  less  tempta- 
tion, betray  each  other  to  their  children;  thus  some 
place  their  confidence  in  the  father  and  some  in  the 
mother,  and  by  degrees  the  house  is  filled  with  artifices 
and  feuds. 

"The  ophnons  of  children  and  parents,  of  the 
young  and  the  old,  are  naturally  opposite,  by  the  con- 
trary effects  of  hope  and  despondence,  of  expectation 
and  experience,  without  crime  or  folly  on  either  side. 
The  colors  of  life  in  youth  and  age  appear  different, 
as  the  face  of  nature  in  spring  and  winter.  And  how 
can  children  credit  the  assertions  of  parents,  which 
their  own  eyes  show  them  to  be  false  ? 
[  "Few  parents  act  in  such  a  manner  as  much  to  en- 
force their  maxims  by  the  credit  of  their  lives.  The 
old  man  trusts  wholly  to  slow  contrivance  and  gradual 
progression;  the  youth  expects  to  force  his  way  by 
genius,  vigor,  and  precipitance.  The  old  man  pays 
regard  to  riches,  and  th^youth  reverences  virtue.  The 
old  man  defies  prudence;  the  youth  commits  himself  to 
magnanimity  and  chance.  The  young  man,  who  in- 
tends no  ill, believes  that  none  is  intended, and  therefore 
acts  with  openness  and  candor;  bat  his  father,  having 
suffered  the  injuries  of  fraud,  is  impelled  to  suspect, 
and  too  often  allured  to  practise  it.  Age  looks  with 
anger  on  the  temerity  of  youth,  and  youth  with  con- 
tempt on  the  scrupulosity  of  age.  Thus  parents  and 
children,  for  the  greatest  part,  live  on  to  love  less  and 
less;  and  if  those  whom  nature  has  thus  closely  united 
are  the  torments  of  each  other,  where  Shall  we  look 
for  tenderness  and  consolation  ?") 

"Surely,"  said  the  prhice,  "you  must  have  been 
unfortunate  in  your  choice  of  acquaintance;  I  am  un- 


RASSELAS.  49 

willing  to  believe  that  the  most  tender  of  all  relations 
is  thus  impeded  in  its  effects  by  natural  necessity." 

"  Domestic  discord,"  answered  she,  "  is  not  inevit- 
ably and  fatally  necessary;  but  yet  it  is  not  easily 
avoided.  We  seldom  see  that  a  wliole  family  is 
virtuous;  the  good  and  evil  cannot  well  agree;  and 
the  evil  can  yet  less  agree  with  one  another;  even  tlie 
virtuous  fall  sometimes  to  variance,  when  their  virtues 
are  of  different  Jvinds,  and  tending  to  extremes.  In 
general,  tliose  parents  have  most  reverence  that  most 
deserve  it;(^for  he  that  lives  well  cannot  be  despised.^ 

"  Many  other  evils  infest  private  life.  Some  are  the 
slaves  of  servants  whom  they  have  trusted  with  their 
affairs.  Some  are  kept  in  continual  anxiety  by  the  caprice 
of  rich  relations,  whom  they  cannot  please  and  dare  not 
offend.  Some  husbands  are  imperious,  and  some  wives 
perverse;  and  as  it  is  always  more  easy  to  do  evil  than 
good,  though  the  wisdom  or  virtue  of  one  can  very 
rarely  make  many  happy,  the  folly  or  vice  of  one  may 
often  make  many  miserable." 

'^  If  such  be  the  general  effect  of  marriage,"  said  the 
prince,  "  I  shall,  for  the  future,  think  it  dangerous  to 
connect  my  interest  with  that  of  another,  lest  I  should 
be  unhappy  by  my  partner's  fault." 

"I  have  met,"  said  the  princess,  "with  many  who 
live  single  for  that  reason;  but  I  never  found  that 
their  prudence  ought  to  raise  enyy.  They  dream  away 
their  time  without  friendship,  without  fondness,  and 
are  driven  to  rid  themselves  of  the  day,  for  which  they 
have  no  use,  by  childish  amusements  or  vicious  de- 
lights. They  act  as  beings  under  the  constant  sense  of 
some  known  inferiority,  that  fills  their  minds  with 
rancor  and  their  tongues  with  censure.  They  aie 
peevish  at  home  and  malevolent  abroad;  and  as  the 
outlaws  of  human  nature,  make  it  their  business  and 
their  pleasure  to  disturb  that  society  which  debars 
them  from  its  privileges.  To  live  without  feeling  or 
exciting  sympathy,  to  be  fortunate  without  adding  to 
the  felicity  of  others,  or  afflicted  without  tasting  the 
balm  of  pity,  is  a  state  more  gloomy  than  solitude;  it 
is  not  retreat,  but  exclusion  from  mankind.  Marriage 
has  many  pains,  but  celibacy  has  no  pleasures." 

"  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  ?"  said  Kasselas  ;  "  the 
more  we  inquire  the  less  we  can  I'esolve.  Surely  he  is 
most  likely  to  please  himself  that  has  no  other  inclina- 
tion to  regard." 


50  RASSELAS. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

DISQUISITION^  UPON"  GREATNESS. 

The  conversation  had  a  short  pause.  The  prince, 
having  considei'ed  his  sister's  observations,  told  her 
that  she  liad  surveyed  life  with  prejudice,  and  sup- 
posed misery  wliere  slie  did  not  find  it.  "  Your  nar- 
rative," says  he,  "throws  yet  a  darker  gloom  upon  the 
prospects  of  futurity;  tlie  predictions  of  Iinlac  were 
hut  faint  sketclies  of  the  evils  painted  by  Nekayali.  1 
have  been  lately  convinced  that  quiet  is  not.  the 
daughter  of  grandeur  or  of  power;  that  her  presence 
is  not  to  he  bought  by  wealth  nor  enforced  by  con- 
quest. It  is  evident  that  as  any  man  acts  in  a  wider 
compass,  he  must  be  more  exposed  to  opposition  from 
enmity  or  miscarriage  from  chance;  whoever  has  many 
to  please  or  to  govern  must  use  the  ministry  of  many 
agents,  some  of  whom  will  be  wicked  and  some  igno- 
rant; by  sonie  he  will  be  misled  and  by  others  betrayed. 
If  he  gratifies  one  he  will  offend  another;  those  that  are 
not  favored  will  think  themselves  injured;  and,  since 
favors  can  be  conferi-ed  but  upon  few,  the  greater 
number  will  be  always  discontented." 

"  The  discontent,"  said  the  princess,  "  which  is  thus 
unreasonable,  I  hope  that  I  shall  always  liave  spirit  to 
despise,  and  you  power  to  repress." 

"  Discontent,"  answered  Rasselas,  "  will  not  always 
be  without  reason  under  the  most  just  and  vigilant 
administration  of  public  affairs.  None,  however  atten- 
tive, can  always  discover  that  merit  which  indigence  or 
faction  may  happen  to  obscure;  and  none  however 
powerful,  can  always  reward  it.  Yet  he  that  sees  in- 
ferior desert  advanced  above  him  will  naturally  impute 
that  preference  to  partiality  or  caprice;  and,  indeed, 
it  can  scarcely  be  hoped  that  any  man,  hovv^ever  mag- 
nanimous by  nature  or  exalted  by  condition,  wdl  be 
able  to  persist  forever  in  the  fixed  and  inexorable  jus- 
tice of  distribution;  he  will  sometimes  indulge  his  own 
affections,  and  sometimes  those  of  his  favorites;  he 
will  iDcrmit  some  to  please  him  who  can  never  serve 
him;  he  will  discover,  in  those  whom  he  loves,  qual- 
ities which  in  reality  they  do  not  possess;  and  to  those 
from  whom  he  receives  pleasure  he  will  in  his  turn 
endeavor  to  give  it.  Thus  will  recommendations 
sometimes  prevail  which  were  purchased  by  money,  or 
by  the  more  destructive  bribery  of  flattery  and  ser- 
vility. 

•'  He  that  has  much  to  do  will  do  something  wrong, 
and  of  this  wrong  must  suffer  the  consequences;  and 
if  it  were  possible  that  he  should  always  act  rightly, 
yet  wlien  sucJi  numbers  are  to  judge  of  his  conduct, 


RASSEtAS.  51 

the  bad  will  censure  and  obstruct  him  by  malevolence, 
and  the  good  sometimes  by  mistake. 

"Tlie  highest  stations  cannot  therefore  hope  to  be 
the  abodes  of  happiness,  which  I  would  willingly 
believe  to  liave  fled  from  thrones  and  palaces  to  seats 
of  humble  privacy  and  placid  obscurity.  For  what 
can  hinder  the  satisfaction  or  intercept  the  expecta- 
tions of  him  whose  abilities  are  adequate  to  his  em- 
ployments, who  sees  with  his  own  eyes  the  whole 
circuit  of  his  influence,  who  chooses  by  his  own  knowl- 
edge all  whom  he  trusts,  and  whom  none  are  tempted 
to  deceive  by  hope  or  fear  ?  Surely  he  has  nothing  to 
do  but  to  love  and  to  be  loved,  to  be  virtuous  and  to 
be  liappy." 

"  Whether  perfect  happiness  would  be  procured  by 
perfect  goodness,"  said  Nekayah,  "this  world  will 
never  atford  an  opportunity  of  deciding.  But  this,  at 
least,  may  be  maintained,  that  we  do  not  always  lind 
visible  happiness  in  proportion  to  visible  virtue.  All 
natural  and  almost  all  political  evils  are  incident  alike 
to  the  bad  and  good ;  they  are  confounded  in  the 
misery  of  a  famine,  and  not  much  distinguished  in  the 
fury  of  a  faction;  they  sink  together  in  a  tempest,  and 
are  driven  together  from  their  country  by  invaders. 
All  that  vh'tue  can  afford  is  quietness  of  conscience,  a 
steady  prospect  of  a  happier  state:  this  may  enable  us 
to  endure  calamity  with  patience;  but  remember  that 
patience  must  suppose  pain." 


CHAPTER  XXVin, 

RASSEIiAS  AND  NEKAYAH  CONTINUE  THEIR  CON- 
VERSATION. 

"  Dear  princess,"  said  Rasselas,  "you  fall  into  the 
common  errors  of  exaggeratory  declamation,  by  pro- 
ducing, in  a  familiar  disquisition,  examples  of  national 
calamities  and  scenes  of  extensive  misery,  which  are 
found  in  books  rather  than  in  the  world,  and  which,  as 
tliey  are  horrid,  are  ordained  to  be  rare.  Let  us  not 
imagine  evils  which  we  do  not  feel,  nor  injure  life  by 
misrepresentations.  I  cannot  bear  that  querulous 
eloquence  which  threatens  every  city  with  a  siege  like 
that  of  Jerusalem,  that  makes  famine  attend  on  every 
flight  of  locusts,  and  suspends  pestilence  on  the  wing 
of  every  blast  that  issues  from  the  south. 

"On  necessary  and  inevitable  evils,  which  over- 
whelm kingdoms  at  once,  all  disputation  is  vain;  when 
they  happen,  they  must  be  endured.  But  ft  is  evident 
thai  these  bursts  of  universal  distress  are  more  dreaded 


5g  RASSPJLAS. 

than  felt ;  thousands  and  ten  thousands  floiu'ish  m 
youth  and  wither  in  age,  witlioiit  the  knowledge  of  any 
other  than  domestic  evils,  and  sliare  the  same  pleasures 
and  vexations,  whether  their  kings  are  mild  or  cruel, 
whether  the  armies  of  tlieir  country  pursue  their 
enemies  or  retreat  before  them.  While  courts  are  dis- 
turbed with  intestine  competitions,  and  ambassadors 
are  negotiating  in  foreign  countries,  the  smith  still  plies 
his  anvil  and  the  liusbandman  drives  his  plough  for- 
ward :  the  necessaries  of  life  are  required  and  obtained; 
and  tlie  successive  business  of  tlie  seasons  continues  to 
make  its  wonted  revolutions. 

"  Let  us  cease  to  consider  what,  perhaps,  may  nevei- 
happen,  and  what,  when  it  shall  happen,  will  laugh  at 
human  speculation.  We  will  not  endeavor  to  modify 
the  motions  of  the  elements  or  to  fix  the  destiny  of 
kingdoms.  It  is  our  business  to  consider  what  beings 
like  us  may  perform;  each  laboring  for  his  own  happi- 
ness by  promoting  within  his  circle,  however  narrow, 
the  happiness  of  others. 

"Marriage  is  evidently  the  dictate  of  nature;  men 
and  women  are  made  to  be  companions  of  each  other, 
and  therefore  I  cannot  be  persuaded  but  that  marriage 
IS  one  of  the  means  of  happiness." 

"I  know  not,"  said  the  princess,  "whether  marriage 
be  more  than  one  of  the  innumerable  modes  of  human 
misery.  When  1  see  and  reckon  the  various  forms  of 
connubial  infelicity,  tlie  unexpected  causes  of  lasting- 
discord,  the  diversities  of  temper,  the  oppositions  of 
opinion,  the  rude  collisions  of  contrary  desire  where 
both  are  urged  by  violent  impulses,  the  obstinate  con- 
tests of  disagreeable  virtues  wliere  both  are  supported 
by  consciousness  of  good  intention,  I  am  sometimes 
disposed  to  think,  with  the  severer  casuists  of  most 
nations,  that  marriage  is  rather  permitted  than  ap- 
proved, and  that  no'ne,  but  by  the  instigation  of  a 
passion  too  much  indulged,  entangle  themselves  with 
indissoluble  compacts." 

"You  seem  to  forget,"  replied  Rasselas,  "that  you 
have,  even  now,  represented  celibacy  as  less  happy 
than  marriage.  Both  conditions  may  be  bad,  but  they 
cannot  both  be  worst.  Thus  it  happens,  when  wrong 
opinions  are  entertained,  that  they  mutually  destroy 
each  other,  and  leave  the  mind  open  to  truth." 

"I  did  not  expect,"  answered  the  princess,  "to  hear 
that  imputed  to  falsehood  which  is  the  consequence 
only  of  frailty.  To  the  mind,  as  to  the  eye,  it  is 
difficult  to  compare  with  exactness  objects  vast  in  their 
extent  and  various  in  their  parts.  Where  we  see  or 
conceive  the  whole  at  once,  we  readily  note  the  dis- 
criminations and  decide  the  preference;  but  of  two 
systems,  of  which  neither  can  be  surveyed  by  any 


RASSELAS.  58 

human  being  in  its  full  compass  of  magnitude  and 
multiplicity  of  combination,  where  is  the  wonder  that, 
judgijig  of  the  whole  by  parts,  I  am  alternately  affected 
by  one  and  the  other,  as  either  presses  on  my  memory 
or  fancy  ?  We  differ  from  ourselves  just  as  we  differ 
from  each  other,  when  we  see  only  parts  of  the  ques- 
tion, as  in  the  multifarious  relations  of  politics  and 
morality;  but  when  we  perceive  the  whole  at  once,  as 
in  numerical  computations,  all  agree  in  one  judgment, 
and  none  ever  varies  his  opinion." 

"Let  us  not  add,"  said  the  prince,  ''to  the  other 
evils  of  life  the  bitterness  of  controversy,  nor  endeavor 
to  vie  with  each  other  iji  subtleties  of  argument.  We 
are  employed  in  a  search,  of  which  both  are  equally  to 
enjoy  the  success  or  suffer  by  the  miscarriage.  It  is 
therefore  flt  that  we  assist  each  other.  You  surely 
conclude  too  hastily  from  the  infelicity  of  marriage 
against  its  institution :  will  not  the  misery  of  life  prove 
equally  that  life  cannot  be  the  gift  of  heaven  ?  The 
world  must  be  peopled  by  marriage  or  peopled  with- 
out it." 

"  How  the  world  is  to  be  peopled,"  returned  Nekayah, 
**is  not  my  care,  and  need  not  be  yom's.  1  see  no 
danger  that  the  present  generation  should  omit  to  leave 
successors  behind  them;  we  are  not  now  inquiring  for 
the  world  but  for  ourselves." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  DEBATE  OF  MARRIAGE  CONTINUED. 

" The  good  of  the  whole,"  says  Rasselas,  "is  tlie 
same  with  the  good  of  all  its  parts.  If  marriage  be  best 
for  mankind,  it  must  be  evidently  best  for  individuals, 
or  a  permanent  and  necessary  duty  must  be  the  cause 
of  evil,  and  some  must  be  inevitably  sacrificed  to  the 
convenience  of  otliers.  In  the  estimate  which  you 
have  made  of  the  two  states,  it  appears  that  the  incom- 
modities  of  a  single  life  are,  in  a  great  measure,  neces- 
sary and  certain,  but  those  of  the  conjugal  state 
accidental  and  avoidable." 

"I  cannot  forbear  to  flatter  myself  that  prudence 
and  benevolence  will  make  marriage  happy.  The 
general  folly  of  mankind  is  the  cause  of  general  com- 
plaint. What  can  be  expected  but  disappointment  and 
repentance  from  a  choice  made  in  the  immaturity  of 
youth,  in  the  ardor  of  desire,  without  judgment, 
without  foresight,  without  inquuy  after  conformity  of 
opinions,  similarity  of  manners,  rectitude  of  judgment, 
or  purity  of  sentiment  ? 


54  RASSELAS. 

*'  Such  is  the  common  process  of  marriage.  A 
youth  or  maiden  meeting  by  chance,  or  brouglit  to- 
gether by  artifice,  exciiange  glances,  reciprocate  civil- 
ities, go  home,  and  dream  of  one  another.  Having 
little  to  divert  attention  or  diversify  thought,  they  find 
themselves  uneasy  wlien  they  are  apart,  and  therefore 
conclude  that  they  shall  be  happy  together.  They 
marry,  and  discover  what  nothing  but  voluntary 
blindness  before  had  concealed  ;  they  wear  out  life  in 
altercations,  and  charge  natui-e  witli  crueltj''. 

"  From  those  early  marriages  proceeds  likewise  the 
rivalry  of  parents  and  children;  the  son  is  eager  to 
enjoy  the  world  before  the  father  is  willing  to  forsake 
it,  and  there  is  hardly  room  at  once  for  two  generations. 
The  daughter  begins  to  bloom  before  the  mother  can  be 
content  to  fade,  and  neither  can  forbear  to  wish  for 
the  absence  of  the  other. 

'*  Surely  all  these  evils  may  be  avoided  by  that  de- 
liberation and  delay  which  prudence  prescribes  to  irrev- 
ocable choice.  In  the  variety  and  jollity  of  youthful 
pleasures  life  may  be  well  enough  supported  without 
the  help  of  a  partner.  Longer  time  will  increase  ex- 
perience, and  wider  views  will  allow  better  opportu- 
nities of  inquiry  and  selection  :  one  advantage,  at  least, 
will  be  certain  ;  the  parents  will  be  visibly  older  than 
their  children." 

"  What  reason  cannot  collect,"  said  Nekayah,  "  and 
what  experiment  has  not  yet  taught,  can  be  known 
only  from  the  report  of  others.  I  have  been  told  that 
late  marriages  are  not  eminently  liappy.  This  is  a 
question  too  important  to  be  neglected,  and  1  have 
often  proposed  it  to  those  whose  accuracy  of  remark 
and  comprehensiveness  of  knowledge  made  their  suf- 
frages worthy  of  regard.  They  have  generally  deter- 
mined that  it  is  dangerous  for  a  man  and  woman  to 
suspend  their  fate  upon  each  other,  at  a  time  when 
opinions  are  fixed  and  habits  are  established  ;  when 
friendships  have  been  contracted  on  both  sides,  when 
life  has  been  planned  into  method,  and  the  mind  has 
long  enjoyed  the  contemplation  of  its  own  prospects. 

"  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  two,  traveling  through 
the  world,  under  the  conduct  of  chance,  should  have 
been  both  directed  to  the  same  path,  and  it  will  not 
often  happen  that  either  will  quit  the  track  which 
custom  has  made  pleasing.  When  the  desultoi  y  levity 
of  youth  has  settled  into  regularity,  it  is  soon  suc- 
ceeded by  pride  ashamed  to  yield  or  obstinacy  de- 
lighting to  contend.  And  even  though  mutual  esteem 
produces  mutual  desire  to  please,  time  itself,  as  it 
modifies  unchangeably  the  external  mien,  determines 
likewise  the  direction  of  the  passions,  and  gives  an  in- 
flexible rigidity  to  tiie  mann&rs.     Long  customs  are 


RASSELAS.  55 

not  easily  broken  :  he  that  attempts  to  change  the 
course  of  his  own  life  very  often  labors  in  vain^  and 
how  shall  we  do  that  for  others  winch  we  are  seldom 
able  to  do  for  ourselves  ?  " 

'*  But  surely,"  interposed  the  prince,  "  you  suppose 
the  chief  motive  of  ciioice  forgotten  or  neglected. 
Whenever  I  shall  seek  a  wife  it  shall  be  my  first  ques- 
tion whether  she  be  willing  to  be  led  by  reason  ?  " 

**  Thus  it  is,"  said  Nekayali,  "  that  philosophers  are 
deceived.  There  are  a  thousand  familiar  disputes 
which  reason  never  can  decide;  questions  that  elude 
investigation  and  make  logic  ridiculous 3  cases  where 
something  must  be  done  and  where  little  can  be  said. 
Consider  the  state  of  mankind,  and  mquire  how  few 
can  be  supposed  to  act  upon  any  occasions,  whether 
small  or  great,  with  all  the  reasons  of  action  present 
to  their  minds.  Wretched  would  be  the  pair  above  all 
names  of  wretchedness  who  should  be  doomed  to 
adjust  by  reason,  every  morning,  all  the  minute  detail 
of  a  domestic  day. 

*'  Those  who  marry  at  an  advanced  age  will  probably 
escape  the  encroachments  of  their  childi-en  ;  but,  in 
diminution  of  this  advantage,  they  will  be  likely  to 
Jeave  them,  ignorant  and  helpless,  to  a  guardian's 
mercy;  or,  if  that  should  not  happen,  they  must  at 
least  go  out  of  the  world  before  they  see  those  whom 
they  love  best  either  wise  or  great. 

*'  From  their  children,  if  they  have  less  to  fear  they 
have  less  also  to  hope;  and  they  lose  without  equiva- 
lent the  joys  of  early  love  and  the  convenience  of 
uniting  with  manners  i)liant  and  minds  susceptible  of 
new  impressions,  which  might  wear  away  their  dis- 
similitudes by  long  cohabitation;  as  softbodieSj  by  con- 
tinued attrition,  conform  their  surfaces  to  each  other. 

"  I  believe  it  will  be  found  that  those  wdio  marry 
late  are  best  pleased  with  their  children,  and  those 
who  marry  early  with  their  partners." 

"  The  union  of  these  two  affections,"  said  Rasselas, 
"  would  produce  all  that  could  be  wished.  Perhaps 
there  is  a  time  when  marriage  might  unite  them,  a  time 
neither  too  early  for  the  father  nor  too  late  for  the 
husband." 

"  Every  hour,"  answered  the  princess,  "  confirms 
my  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  position  so  often  uttered 
by  the  mouth  of  Imlac,  '  That  nature  sets  her  gifts  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left.'  Those  conditions  which 
Hatter  hope  and  attract  desire  are  so  constituted  that  as 
we  approach  one  we  recede  from  another.  There  are 
goods  so  opposed  that  we  cannot  seize  both,  but,  by 
too  much  prudence,  may  pass  between  them  at  too 
great  a  distance  to  reach  eitlier.  This  i«  often  the  fate 
of  long  consideration;  he  does  nothing  who  endeavors 


56  RABSELAS. 

to  do  more  than  is  allowed  to  humanity.  Flatter  not 
yourself  with  contrarieties  of  pleasure.  Of  the  bless- 
ings set  before  you,  make  your  choice,  and  be  con- 
tent. No  man  can  taste  the  fruits  of  autumn  while  he 
is  delighting  his  scent  with  the  flowers  of  spring;  no 
man  can,  at  the  same  time,  fill  his  cup  from  the  source 
and  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nile." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

IMLAC  ENTERS,  AND  CHANGES  THE  CONVERSATION. 

Here  Imlac  entered  and  interrupted  them.  "  Im- 
lac,"  said  Rasselas,  "I  have  been  taking  from  the 
princess  the  dismal  history  of  private  life,  and  am 
almost  discouraged  from  farther  search." 

*'  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Imlac,  "  that  while  you  are 
making  the  choice  of  life  you  neglect  to  live.  You 
wander  about  a  single  city,  which,  however  large  and 
diversified,  can  now  afford  few  novelties,  and  forget 
that  you  are  in  a  country  famous  among  the  earliest 
monarchies  for. the  power  and  wisdom  of  its  inhabit- 
ants; a  country  where  the  sciences  first  dawned  that 
illuminate  the  world,  and  beyond  which  the  arts  can- 
not be  traced  of  civil  society  or  domestic  life. 

"The  old  Egyptians  have  left  behind  them  monu- 
ments of  industry  and  power,  before  which  all  Euro- 
pean magnificence  is  confessed  to  fade  away.  The 
ruins  of  then  architecture  are  the  schools  of  modern 
builders  and  from  the  wonders  which  time  has  spared 
we  may  conjectm-e,  though  uncertainly,  what  it  has 
destroyed." 

"My  curiosity,"  said  Rasselas,  "does  not  very 
sti'ongly  lead  me  to  survey  the  piles  of  stone  or 
mounds  of  earth;  my  business  is  with  man.  I  came 
hither  not  to  measm-e  fragments  of  temples,  or  trace 
choked  aqueducts,  but  to  look  upcfn  the  various  scenes 
of  the  present  world."  * 

"  The  things  that  are  now  before  us,"  said  the  prin-'^ 
cess,  "  require  attention  and  desei-ve  it.  What  have  I' 
to  do  with  the  heroes  or  the  monuments  of  ancient 
times  ?  with  times  which  never  can  return,  and  heroes, 
whose  form  of  Ufe  was  different  from  all  that  the  i^res- 
ent  condition  of  mankind  requires  or  allows  ?" 

"  To  know  anything,"  returned  the  poet,  "  we  must 
know  its  effects;  to  see  men  we  must  see  their  works, 
that  we  may  learn  what  reason  has  dictated  or  passion 
has  incited,  and  find  what  are  the  most  powerful 
motives  of  action.  To  Judge  rightly  of  the  present, 
we  must  oppose  it  to  the  past;  for  all  Judgment  is 


ViASSKLAS.  f»7 

comparativo,  and  of  the  future  nothing  can  be  known. 
The  trutii  is,  tliat  no  mind  is  much  employed  upon  the 
present;  recollection  and  anticipation  fill  up  almost  all 
our  momentST  Our  passions  are  joy  and  grief,  love 
and  hatred,  hope  and  fear.  Of  joy  and  grief  the  past 
is  the  object,  and  the  future  of  hope  and  fear;  even 
love  and  hatred  respect  the  past,  for  the  cause  must 
have  been  before  the  effect. 

"The  present  state  of  things  is  the  consequence  of 
the  former,  and  it  is  natural  to  inquire  what  were  the 
sources  of  the  good  that  we  enjoy  or  the  evil  that  we 
suffer.  If  we  act  only  for  ourselves,  to  neglect  the 
study  of  history  is  not  prudent;  if  we  are  intrusted 
with  the  care  of  other^,,  it  is  not  just.  Ignorance,  when 
it  is  voluntary,  is  criminal;  and  he  may  be  properly- 
charged  with  evil  who  refused  to  learn  how  he  might 
prevent  it. 

"There  is  no  part  of  history  so  generally  useful  as 
that  which  relates  the  progress  of  the  human  mind, 
the  gradual  improvement  of  reason,  the  successive  ad- 
vances of  science,  the  vicissitudes  of  learning  and 
ignorance,  which  are  the  light  and  darkness  of  think- 
ing beings,  the  extinction  and  resuscitation  of  arts, 
and  the  revolutions  of  the  intellectual  world.  If 
accounts  of  battles  and  invasions  are  peculiarly  the 
business  of  princes,  the  useful  or  elegant  arts  are  not 
to  be  neglected;  those  who  have  kingdoms  to  govern 
have  understandings  to  cultivate. 

"  Example  is  always  more  efficacious  than  precept. 
A  soldier  is  formed  in  war,  and  a  painter  must  copy- 
pictures.  In  this,  contemplative  life  has  the  advan- 
tage :  great  actions  are  seldom  seen,  but  the  labors  of 
art  are  always  at  hand  for  those  who  desire  to  know 
what  art  has  been  able  to  perform. 

"  When  the  eye  or  the  imagination  is  struck  with 
any  uncommon  work,  the  next  transition  of  an  active 
mind  is  to  the  means  by  which  it  was  performed.  Here 
begins  the  true  use  of  such  contemplation;  we  enlarge 
our  comprehension  by  new  ideas,  and  perhaps  recover 
some  art  lost  to  mankind,  or  learn  what  is  less  per- 
fectly known  in  our  own  country.  At  least  we  com- 
pare our  own  with  former  times,  and  either  rejoice  at " 
our  improvements,  or,  what  is  the  first  motion  toward 
good,  discover  our  defects." 

"lam  willing,"  said  the  prince,  "to  see  all  that 
can  deserve  my  search."  "  And  I,"  said  the  princess, 
"shall  rejoice  to  learn  something  of  the  manners 
of  antiquity." 

"  The  most  pompous  monument  of  Egyptian  great- 
ness, and  one  of  the  most  bulky  works  of  manual 
industry,"  said  Imlac,  "are  the  Pyramids;  fabrics 
raised  before  the  time  of  history,  and  of  which  the 
earliest  narratives  afford  us  only  uncertain  traditions. 


5S  RASSELAS. 

Of  these  the  greatest  is  still  standing,  very  little  injured 
by  time." 

"Let  us  visit  them  to-mori'ow,"  said  Nekaj^ah.  "1 
have  often  heard  of  the  Pyramids,  and  shall  not  rest 
until  I  have  seen  them  within  and  M^ithout  with  my 
own  eyes." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THEY  VISIT  THE  PYRAMIDS. 

The  resolution  being  taken,  they  set  out  the  next 
day.  They  laid  tents  uiDon  their  camels,  being  resolved 
to  stay  among  the  Pyramids  till  their  curiosity  was 
fully  satisfied.  They  travelled  gently,  tm-ned  aside  to 
everything  remarkable,  stopped  from  time  to  time  and 
conversed  with  the  inhabitants  and  observed  the  various 
appearances  of  towns  ruined  and  inhabited,  of  wild 
and  cultivated  nature. 

When  they  came  to  the  great  pyramid  they  were 
astonished  at  the  extent  of  the  base  and  the  height  of 
the  top.  Iiidac  explained  to  them  the  principles  upon 
which  the  pyramidal  form  was  chosen  for  a  fabric 
intended  to  co-extend  its  duration  with  that  of  the 
world;  he  showed  that  its  gradual  diminution  gave  it 
such  stability  as  defeated  all  the  common  attacks  of  the 
elements,  and  could  scarcely  be  overthrown  by  earth- 
quakes themselves,  the  least  resistible  of  natural 
violence.  A  concussion  that  should  shatter  the  pyramid 
would  threaten  the  dissolution  of  the  continent. 

They  measured  all  its  dimensions,  and  pitched  their 
tents  at  its  foot.  Next  day  they  prepared  to  enter  its 
interior  apartments;  and,  having  hired  the  common 
guides,  chmbed  up  to  the  first  passage,  when  the 
favorite  of  the  princess,  looking  into  tlie  cavity,  stepped 
back  and  trembled.  "  Pekuali^,"  said  the  princess,  "  of 
what  art  thou  afraid?"  "Of  the  narrow  entrance," 
answered  the  lady,  "and  of  the  dreadful  gloom.  I 
dare  not  enter  a  place  which  must  surely  be  inhabited 
by  unquiet  souls.  The  original  possessors  of  these 
'Ireadful  vaults  will  start  up  before  us,  and  perhaps 
shut  us  in  forever."  She  spoke,  and  threw  her  arms 
round  the  neck  of  her  mistress. 

*'  If  all  your  fear  be  of  apparitions,"  said  the  prince, 
"I  will  promise  you  safety;  there  is  no  danger  from 
the  dead ;  he  that  is  once  buried  will  be  "seen  no 
more." 

" That  the  dead  are  seen  no  more,"  said  Imlac,  "I 
will  not  undertake  to  maintain,  against  the  concurrent 
and  unvaried  testimony  of  all  ages  and  of  all  nations. 
There  is  no  people,  rude  or  learned,  among  whom 
apparitions  of  the  dead  are  not  related  and  believed. 


RASSELAS.  5d 

This  opinion,  which  perliaps  prevails  as  far  as  human 
nature  is  diffused,  could  become  universal  only  by  its 
truth;  those  that  never  heard  of  one  another  would 
not  have  agreed  in  a  tale  which  nothing-  but  experience 
can  make  credible.  That  it  is  doubted  by  single 
cavillers  can  very  little  weaken  the  general  evidence; 
and  some  who  deny  it  with  then-  tongues  confess  it  by 
tlieir  fears. 

' '  Yet  1  do  not  mean  to  add  new  terrors  to  those 
which  liave  already  seized  upon  Pekuah.  There  can 
be  no  reason  wliy  spectres  should  haunt  the  pyramid 
more  than  other  places,  or  why  they  should  have  power 
or  will  to  hurt  innocence  and  purity.  Our  entrance  is 
uo  violation  of  their  privileges;  we  can  take  nothing 
from  them,  how  then  can  we  oifend  them?" 

"  My  dear  Pekuah,''  said  the  princess,  "  I  will  always 
go  before  you,  and  Imlac  shall  follow  you.  Remem- 
ber that  you  are  the  companion  of  the  princess  of 
Abyssinia." 

"If  the  princess  is  pleased  that  her  servant  should 
die,"  returned  the  lady,  "  let  her  command  some  death 
less  dreadful  than  inclosure  in  this  horrid  cavern;  you 
know  I  dare  not  disobey  you;  I  must  go  if  you  com- 
mand me ;  but  if  I  once  enter  I  never  shall  come 
back." 

The  princess  saw  that  her  fear  was  too  strong  for 
expostulation  or  reproof;  and,  embracing  her,  told  her 
that  she  should  stay  in  the  tent  till  their  return. 
Pekuah  was  yet  not  satisfied,  but  entreated  the  princess 
not  to  pursue  so  dreadful  a  purpose  as  that  of  entering 
the  recesses  of  the  pyramid.  "  Though  I  cannot  teach 
courage,"  said  Nekayah,  "I  must  not'learn  cowardice, 
nor  leave  at  last  undone  what  1  came  hither  only 
to  do." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THEY  ENTER  THE  PYRAMID. 

Pekuah  descended  to  the  tents,  and  the  rest  entered 
the  pyramid;  they  passed  through  the  galleries,  sur- 
veyed the  vaults  of  marble,  and  examined  the  chest 
in  which  the  body  of  the  founder  is  supposed  to  have 
been  reposited.  They  then  sat  down  in  one  of  the 
most  spacious  chambers  to  rest  awhile  before  they  at- 
tempted to  return. 

"  We  have  now,"  said  Imlac,  "gratified  our  minds 
with  an  exact  view  of  the  greatest  work  of  man,  ex- 
cept the  wall  of  China. 

"  Of  the  wall  it  is  very  easy  to  assign  the  motive. 
It  secured  a  wealthy  and  timorous  nation  from  the  in- 
cursions of  barbarians,  whose  unskilfulness  in   arts 


60  RASSELAS. 

made  it  easier  for  tliem  to  supply  their  wants  by  rapine 
than  by  industry,  and  who  from  time  to  time  poured 
in  upon  the  liabitations  of  peaceful  commerce  as  vult- 
ures despend  upon  domestic  fowl.  Their  celerity  and 
fierceness  rendered  the  wall  necessary,  and  their  igno- 
rance made  it  efficacious. 

*'But  for  the  Pyramids  no  reason  has  ever  been 
given  adequate  to  the  cost  and  labor  of  the  work.  The 
narrowness  of  the  chambers  proves  that  it  could  afford 
no  retreat  from  enemies,  and  treasures  might  have 
been  reposited  at  far  less  expense  with  equal  security. 
It  seems  to  have  been  erected  only  in  compliance  with 
that  hunger  of  imagination  which  preys  incessantly 
upon  life, and  must  be  always  ai)peased  by  some  employ- 
ment. Those  who  have  already  all  that  they  can  en- 
joy must  enlarge  their  desires.  He  that  has  built  for 
use,  till  use  is  supplied,  must  begin  to  build  for  vanity, 
and  extend  his  plan  to  the  utmost  power  of  human 
performance,  that  he  may  not  be  soon  reduced  to 
form  another  wish. 

*'  I  consider  this  mighty  structure  as  a  monument 
of  the  insufficiency  of  human  enjoyments.  A  king, 
whose  power  is  unlimited,  and  whose  treasures  sur- 
mount all  real  and  imaginary  wants,  is  compelled  to 
solace,  by  the  erection  of  a  pyramid,  the  satiety  of 
dominion  and  tastelessness  of  pleasures,  and  to  amuse 
the  tediousness  of  declining  life  by  seeing  thousands 
laboring  without  end,  and  one  stone,  for  no  purpose, 
laid  upon  another.  Whoever  thou  art  that,  not  con- 
tent with  a  moderate  condition,  imaginest  happiness  in 
royal  magnificence,  and  dreamest  that  command  of 
riches  can  feed  the  appetite  of  novelty  with  perpetual 
gratifications,  survey  the  Pyramids  and  confess  thy 
folly." 


CHAPTER  XXXin. 

THE  PRINCESS  MEETS  WITH  AN  UNEXPECTED 
MISFORTUNE. 

They  rose  up  and  returned  through  the  cavity  at 
which  they  had  entered,  and  the  princess  prepared  for 
her  favorite  a  long  narrative  of  dark  labyrinths  and 
costly  rooms,  and  of  the  different  impressions  which 
the  varieties  of  the  way  had  made  upon  her.  But  when 
they  came  to  their  train  they  found  every  one  silent  and 
dejected;  the  men  discovered  shame  and  fear  in  their 
countenances,  and  the  women  were  weeping  in  the 
tents. 

What  had  happened  they  did  not  try  to  conjecture, 
but  immediately  inquired.  *  "  You  had  scarcely  entered 
into  the  pyramid,"  §aid  one  of  the  attendants,  "  when 


RASSELAS.  61 

a  troop  of  Ar«ibs  rushed  upon  us :  we  were  too  few  to 
resist  them  and  too  slow  to  escape.  Tliey  were  about 
to  search  the  tents,  set  us  on  our  camels,  and  drive  us 
along  before  them,  when  tlie  approach  of  some  Turk- 
ish horsemen  put  them  to  fligiit;  but  they  seized  the 
lady  Pelvuah  with  her  two  maids  and  carried  them 
away;  the  Turks  are  now  pursuing  them  by  our  insti- 
gation, but  I  fear  they  will  not  be  able  to  overtake 
them." 

The  princess  was  overpowei-ed  with  surprise  and  grief. 
Rasselas,  in  the  first  heat  of  his  resentment,  ordered 
his  servants  to  follow  him,  and  prepared  to  pursue  the 
robbers  with  his  sabre  in  his  hand.  "Sir,"  said  Ini- 
lac,  "  what  can  you  hope  from  violence  or  valor  ?  the 
Arabs  are  mounted  on  horses  trained  to  battle  and  re- 
treat; we  have  only  beasts  of  burden.  By  leaving  our 
present  station  we  may  lose  the  princess,  but  cannot 
hope  to  regain  Pekuah." 

In  a  short  time  the  Turks  returned,  having  not  been 
able  to  reach  the  enemy.  The  princess  burst  out  into 
new  lamentations,  and  Rasselas  could  scarcely  forbear 
to  reproach  them  with  cowardice;  but  Imlac  was  of 
opinion  that  the  escape  of  the  Arabs  was  no  addition 
to  their  misfortune,  for  perhaps  they  would  have  killed 
theu'  captives  rather  than  have  resigned  them. 


CHAPTER  XXXrV. 

THEY  RETURN"  TO  CAIRO  WITHOUT  PEKUAH. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  hoped  from  longer  stay. 
They  returned  to  Cairo,  repenting  of  their  curiosity, 
censuring  the  negligence  of  the  government,  lament- 
ing their  own  rashness,  which  had  neglected  to  pro- 
cure a  guard,  Imagining  many  expedients  by  which  the 
loss  of  Pekuah  might  have  been  prevented,  and  resolv- 
ing to  do  something  for  her  recovery,  though  none 
could  find  anything  proper  to  be  done. 

Nekayah  retired  to  her  chamber,  where  her  women 
attempted  to  comfort  her,  by  telling  her  that  all  had 
their  troubles,  and  that  lady  Pekuah  had  enjoyed  much 
happiness  in  the  world  for  a  long  time,  and  might 
reasonably  expect  a  change  of  fortune.  They  hoped 
that  some  good  would  befall  her  wheresoever  she  was, 
and  that  their  mistress  would  find  another  friend  who 
might  su])ply  her  place. 

The  princess  made  them  no  answer,  and  they  con- 
tinued the  form  of  condolence,  not  much  giiev^d  In 
their  hearts  that  the  favorite  was  lost. 


62  RASSELAS. 

Next  day  the  prince  presented  to  the  Bassa  a  memo- 
rial of  tiie  wrong  which  lie  had  suffered,  and  a  peti- 
tion for  redress.  The  Bassa  threatened  to  punish  the 
rohbers,  but  did  not  attempt  to  catch  them,  nor  indeed 
could  any  account  or  description  be  given  by  wliich 
he  might  direct  the  pursuit. 

It  soon  appeared  that  nothing  would  be  done  by 
authority.  Governors  being  accustomed  to  hear  of 
more  crimes  than  they  can  punish,  and  more  wrongs 
than  they  can  redress,  set  themselves  at  ease  by  indis- 
criminate negligence,  and  presently  forget  the  request 
when  they  lose  sight  of  the  petitioner. 

Imlac  then  endeavored  to  gain  some  intelligeiK^e  by 
private  agents.  He  found  many  who  pretended  to  an 
exact  knowledge  of  all  the  haunts  of  the  Arabs,  and 
to  regular  correspondence  with  their  chiefs,  and  who 
readily  undertook  the  recovery  of  Pekuah.  Of  these, 
some  were  furnished  with  money  for  their  journey, 
and  came  back  no  more;  some  were  liberally  paid  for 
accounts  which  a  few  days  discovered  to  be  false. 
But  the  princess  would  not  suffer  any  means,  however 
improbable,  to  be  left  untried.  While  she  was  doing 
something,  she  kept  her  hope  alive.  As  one  expedient 
failed,  another  was  suggested;  when  one  messenger 
returned  unsuccessfully,  another  was  dispatched  to  a 
different  quarter. 

Two  months  had  now  passed,  and  of  Pekuah  nothing 
had  been  heard;  the  hopes  which  they  had  endeavored 
to  raise  in  each  other  grew  more  languid;  and  the 
princess,  when  she  saw  nothing  more  to  be  tried,  sank 
down  inconsolable  in  hopeless  dejection.  A  thousand 
times  she  reproached  herself  witli  the  easy  compliance 
by  which  she  permitted  her  favorite  to  stay  behind  her. 
'^Had  not  my  fondness,"  said  she,  "'lessened  my 
authority,  Pekuah  had  not  dared  to  talk  of  her  terrors. 
She  ought  to  have  feared  me  more  than  spectres.  A 
seveT-e  look  would  have  overpowered  her;  a  peremptory 
command  would  have  compelled  obedience.  Why  did 
foolish  indulgence  prevail  upon  me  r  Why  did  I  not 
speak,  and  refuse  to  hear?  " 

"Great  princess,"  said  Imlac,  "do  not  reproach 
yourself  for  your  virtue,  or  consider  that  as  blamable 
by  which  evil  has  accidentally  been  caused.  Your 
tenderness  for  the  timidity  of  Pekuah  was  generous 
and  kind.  When  we  act  according  to  our  duty,  we 
commit  the  event  to  Him  by  whose  laws  our  actions 
are  governed,  and  who  will  suffer  none  to  be  finally 
punished  for  obedience.  When,  in  prospect  of  some 
good,  whether  natural  or  moral,  we  break  the  rules 
prescribed  us,  we  withdraw  from  the  direction  of 
superior  wisdom  and  take  all  consequences  upon  our- 
selves.    Man  cannot  so  far  know  the  connection  of 


RASSELAS.  63 

causes  and  events  as  that  lie  may  ventnre  to  do  wrong 
in  order  to  do  rigiit.  Wlien  we  pursue  our  end  by 
lawful  means,  we  may  always  console  our  miscarriage 
by  the  hope  of  future  recompense.  When  we  consult 
only  our  own  policy,  aud  attempt  to  find  a  nearer  way 
to  good,  by  overleaping  the  settled  boundaries  of  right 
and  wrong,  we  cannot  be  happy  even  by  success,  be- 
cause we  cannot  escape  the  consciousness  of  our  fault; 
but,  if  we  miscarry  the  disappointment  is  irremediably 
embittered.  How  comfortless  is  the  sorrow  of  him 
who  feels  at  once  the  pangs  of  guilt,  and  the  vexation 
of  calamity  which  guilt  has  bi'ought  upon  him  ! 

"Consider,  princess,  what  would  have  been  your 
condition  if  the  lady  Pekuah  had  entreated  to  ac- 
company you,  and,  being  compelled  to  stay  in  the 
tents,  had  been  carried  away  ;  or  how  would  you  have 
borne  the  thought  if  you  had  forced  her  into  the 
pyramid,  and  she  had  died  before  you  in  agonies  ot 
terror?" 

"Had  either  happened,"  said  Nekayah,  "  I  could 
not  have  endured  life  till  now ;  I  should  have  been 
tortured  to  madness  by  the  remembrance  of  such 
cruelty,  or  must  have  pined  away  in  abhorrence  of 
myself." 

"This,  at  least,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  the  present  reward 
of  virtuous  conduct,  that  no  unlucky  consequences  can 
oblige  us  to  repent  it." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE  PRINCESS  LANGUISHES  FOR  WANT  OF  PEKUAH. 

Nekayah,  being  thus  reconciled  to  herself,  found 
that  no  evil  is  insupportable  but  that  which  is  accom- 
panied with  consciousness  of  wrong.  She  was  from 
that  time  delivered  from  the  violence  of  tempestuous 
sorrow,  and  sunk  into  silent  pensiveness  and  gloomy 
tranquility.  She  sat  from  morning  to  evening  recol- 
lecting all  that  had  been  done  or  said  by  her  Pekuali, 
treasured  up  with  care  every  trifle  on  which  Pekuah 
had  set  an  accidental  value,  and  wdiich  might  recall  to 
mind  any  little  incident  or  careless  conversation.  The 
sentiments  of  her  whom  she  now  expected  to  see  no  more 
were  treasured  in  her  memory  as  rules  of  life,  and  she 
deliberated  to  no  other  end  than  to  conjecture  on  any 
occasion  what  would  have  been  the  opinion  and 
counsel  of  Pekuah. 

The  women  by  whom  she  was  attended  knew 
nothing  of  her  real  condition,  and  therefore  she  could 
not  talk  to  them  but  with  caution  and  reserve.    She 


64  RASSELAS. 

began  to  remit  her  curiosity,  having  no  gi'cat  desire  to 
collect  notions  which  she  had  not  convenience  of 
uttering.  Kasselas  endeavored  first  to  comfort  and 
afterward  to  divert  her;  he  hired  musicians,  to  whom 
she  seemed  to  listen,  but  did  not  hear  thenij  and  pro- 
cured masters  to  instruct  her  in  various  arts,  whose 
lectures,  when  they  visited  her  again,  were  again  to  be 
repeated.  She  had  lost  her  taste  of  pleasure  and  her 
ambition  of  excellence.  And  her  mind,  though  forced 
into  short  excm'sions,  always  recurred  to  the  image  of 
her  fiiend. 

Imlac  w^as  every  morning  earnestly  enjoined  to 
renew  his  inquiries,  and  was  asked  every  night  whether 
he  had  yet  heard  of  Pekuah,  till  not  being  able  to 
return  the  princess  the  answer  that  she  desired,  he  was 
less  and  less  willing  to  come  into  her  presence.  She 
observed  his  backwardness  and  commanded  him  to 
attend  her.  "  You  are  not,"  said  she,  "  to  confound 
impatience  with  resentment,  or  to  suppose  that  I 
charge  you  with  negligence  because  I  rei^ine  at  your 
unsuccessxulness.  I  do  not  much  wonder  at  yom* 
absence;  I  know  that  the  unhappy  are  never  pleasing, 
and  that  all  naturally  avoid  tlie  contagion  of  misery. 
To  liear  complaints  is  wearisome  alike  to  the  wretched 
and  the  happy;  for  wlio  would  cloud,  by  adventitious 
grief,  the  short  gleams  of  gayety  which  life  allows  us  ? 
or  who  that  is  struggling  under  his  own  evils  will  add 
to  them  the  miseiies  of  another? 

"  The  time  is  at  hand  when  none  shall  be  disturbed 
any  longer  by  the  sighs  of  Nekay ah ;  my  search  after 
happiness  is  now  at  an  end.  I  am  resolved  to  retire 
from  the  world,  with  all  its  flatteries  and  deceits,  and 
will  hide  myself  in  solitude,  without  any  other  care 
than  to  compose  my  thoughts  and  regulate  my  hours 
by  a  constant  succession  of  innocent  occupations,  till, 
with  a  mind  xnnified  from  all  earthly  desires,  I  sliall 
enter  into  that  state  to  which  all  are  hastening,  and  in 
which  I  hope  again  to  enjoy  the  friendship  of  Pekuah." 

"Do  not  entangle  your  mind,"  said  Imlac,  *' bj' 
irrevocable  determinations,  nor  increase  the  burden  of 
life  by  a  voluntary  accumulation  of  misery;  the  weari- 
ness of  retirement  will  continue  or  increase  when  the 
loss  of  PekiTah  is  forgotten.  That  you  have  been  de- 
prived of  one  pleasure  is  no  very  good  reason  for  rejec- 
tion of  the  rest." 

"  Since  Pekuah  was  taken  from  me,"  said  tlic  prin- 
cess, "  I  have  no  pleasure  to  reject  or  to  I'etain.  She 
that  has  no  one  to  love  or  trust  lias  little  to  hope.  Slu- 
wants  the  radical  principle  of  happiness.  We  may , 
perhaps,  allow,  that  what  satisfaction  this  world  can 
afford  must  arise  from  the  conjunction  of  wealth, 
knowledge,  and  goodness:  wealth  is  nothing  but ^«  it 


RASSELAS.  65 

is  bestowed,  and  knowledge  nothing  but  as  it  is  com- 
municated: they  must  therefore  be  imparted  to  others; 
and  to  whom  could  I  now  delight  to  impart  them  ? 
Goodness  affords  the  only  comfort  which  can  be  en- 
joyed without  a  partner,  and  goodness  may  be  prac- 
tised in  retirement." 

"  How  far  solitude  may  admit  goodness  or  advance 
it,  I  shall  not,"  replied  Imlac,  "  dispute  at  present. 
Remember  the  confession  of  the  pious  hermit.  You 
will  wish  to  return  into  the  world  when  the  image  of 
your  companion  has  left  your  thoughts." 

"  That  time,"  said  Nekayah,  "  will  never  come.  The 
generous  frankness,  the  modest  obsequiousness,  and 
the  faithful  secrecy  of  my  dear  Pekuah  will  always  be 
more  missed  as  I  shall  live  longer  to  see  vice  and 
folly." 

"The  state  of  a  mind  oppressed  with  a  sudden  ca- 
lamity," said  Imlac,  "is  like  that  @f  the  fabulous  in- 
habitants of  the  new-created  earth,  who,  when  the 
first  night  came  upon  them,  supposed  that  day  would 
never  return.  When  the  clouds  of  sorrow  gather  over 
us,  we  see  nothing  beyond  them,  nor  can  imagine  how 
they  will  be  dispelled:  yet  a  new  day  succeeded  to  the 
night,  and  sorrow  is  never  long  without  a  dawn  of 
ease.  But  they  who  restrain  themselves  from  receiv- 
ing comfort  do  as  the  savages  would  have  done,  liad 
they  put  out  their  eyes  when  it  was  dark.  Oar  minds, 
like  our  bodies,  are  in  continual  flux;  something  is 
hourly  lost  and  something  acquired.  To  lose  much  at 
once  is  inconvenient  to  either,  but  while  the  vital 
powers  remain  uninjured  nature  will  find  the  mean^ 
of  reparation.  Distance  has  the  same  effect  on  the 
mind  as  on  the  eye;  and  while  we  glide  along  the 
stream  of  time,  whatever  we  leave  behind  us  is  always 
lessening,  and  that  which  we  approach  increasing  in 
magnitude.  Do  not  suffer  life  to  stagnate;  it  will 
grow  muddy  for  want  of  motion;  commit  yourself 
again  to  the  current  of  the  world;  Pekuah  will  vanish 
by  degrees;  you  will  meet  in  your  way  some  other 
favorite,  or  learn  to  diffuse  yourself  in  general  conver- 
sation." 

"  At  least,"  said  the  prince,  "  do  not  despair  before 
all  remedies  have  been  tried ;  the  inquiry  after  the  un- 
fortunate lady  is  still  continued,  and  shall  be  carried 
on  with  yet  greater  diligence,  on  condition  that  you  will 
promise  to  wait  a  year  for  the  event,  without  any  un- 
alterable resolution." 

Nekayah  thought  this  a  reasonable  demand,  and 
made  the  promise  to  her  brother,  who  had  been  ad- 
vised by  Imlac  to  require  it.  Imlac  had,  indeed,  no 
great  hope  of  regaining  Pekuah;   but  he  supposed  that 


66  KASSELAS. 

if  he  could  secure  the  interval  of  a  year  the  princess 
would  then  be  in  no  danger  of  a  cloister. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

PEKUAH  IS    STILIi    REMEMBERED.— THE    PROGRESS 
OF  SORROW. 

NekAYAH,  seeing  that  nothing  was  omitted  for  the 
recovery  of  her  favorite,  and  having,  hy  her  promise, 
set  her  intention  of  retirement  at  a  distance,  began 
imperceptibly  to  return  to  common  cares  and  common 
pleasures.  She  rejoiced  without  her  own  consent  at 
the  suspension  of  her  sorrows,  and  sometimes  caught 
herself  with  indignation  in  the  act  of  turning  away  her 
mind  from  the  remembrance  of  her  whom  she  yet  re- 
solved never  to  forget. 

She  then  appointed  a  certain  hour  of  the  day  for 
meditation  on  the  merits  and  fondness  of  Pekuah, 
and  for  some  weeks  retired  constantly  at  the  time 
fixed,  and  returned  with  her  eyes  swollen  and  her 
countenance  clouded.  By  degrees  she  grew  less  scru- 
pulous, and  suffered  any  important  and  pressing  avo- 
cation to  delay  the  tribute  of  daily  tears.  She  then 
yielded  to  less  occasions;  sometimes  forgot  what  she 
was  indeed  afraid  to  remember,  and  at  last  wholly  re- 
leased herself  from  the  duty  of  periodical  affliction, 

Her  real  love  of  Pekuah  was  not  yet  diminished.  A 
thousand  occurrences  brought  her  back  to  memory, 
and  a  thousand  wants,  which  nothing  but  the  confi- 
dence of  friendship  can  supply,  made  her  frequently 
regretted.  She  therefore  solicited  Imlac  never  to 
desist  from  inquiry,  and  to  leave  no  art  of  intelligence 
untried,  that  at  least  she  might  have  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  she  did  not  suffer  by  negligence  or  slug- 
gishness. "  Yet  what,"  said  she,  "  is  to  be  expected 
from  our  pursuit  of  happiness,  when  we  find  the  state 
of  life  to  be  such  that  happiness  itself  is  the  cause  of 
misery  ?  Why  should  we  endeavor  to  attain  that  of 
which  the  possession  cannot  be  secured?  I  shall 
henceforward  fear  to  yield  my  heart  to  excellence, 
however  bright,  or  to  fondness,  however  tender,  lest  I 
should  lose  again  what  I  have  lost  in  Pekuah. 


RAlSSELAiS.  67 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE  PRINCESS  HEARS  NEWS  OF  PEKUAH. 

In  seven  months,  one  of  the  messengers,  who  had 
been  sent  away  upon  the  day  when  the  promise  was 
drawn  from  the  prhicess,  returned,  after  many  unsuc- 
cessful rambles,  from  the  borders  of  Nubia,  with  an 
account  that  Pelvuah  was  in  the  hands  of  an  Arab 
chief,  who  possessed  a  castle  or  fortress  on  the  ex- 
tremity of  Egypt.  The  Aiab,  whose  revenue  was  plun- 
der, was  willing  to  restore  lier,  with  her  two  attendants, 
for  two  hundred  ounces  of  gold. 

The  price  was  no  subject  of  debate.  Tlie  princess 
was  in  ecstasies  when  she  heard  that  her  favorite  was 
alive,  and  mighc  so  cheaply  be  ransomed.  She  could 
not  think  of  delaying  for  a  moment  Pekuah's  happi- 
ness or  her  own,  but  entreated  her  brother  to  send 
back  the  messenger  with  the  sum  required.  Imlac 
being  consulted  was  not  veiy  confident  of  the  veracity 
of  the  relator,  and  was  still  more  doubtful  of  the  Arab's 
faith,  who  might,  if  he  were  too  liberally  trusted, 
detain  at  once  tiie  money  and  the  captives.  He  thought 
it  dangerous  to  put  themselves  in  the  power  of  the 
Arab  by  going  into  his  district,  and  could  not  expect 
that  the  rover  would  so  much  expose  himself  as  to  come 
into  the  lower  country,  where  he  might  be  seized  by 
the  forces  of  the  Bassa. 

It  is  difficult  to  negotiate  where  neither  will  trust. 
But  Imlac,  after  some  deliberatioi],  directed  the  mes- 
senger to  propose  that  Pekuah  should  be  conducted  by 
ten  horsemen  to  the  monastery  of  8t.  Antony,  which 
is  situated  in  the  deserts  of  Upper  Egypt,  where  she 
should  be  met  by  the  same  number,  and  her  ransom 
should  be  paid. 

That  no  time  might  be  lost,  as  they  expected  that 
the  proposal  would  not  be  refused,  they  immediately 
began  their  journey  to  the  monastery;  and  when  they 
arrived,  Imlac  went  forward  with  the  former  mes- 
senger to  the  Arab's  fortress.  Rasselas  was  desirous 
to  go  with  them;  but  neither  his  sister  nor  Imlac  would 
consent.  The  Arab,  according  to  the  custom  of  his 
nation,  observed  the  laws  of  hospitality  with  great  ex- 
actness to  those  who  put  themselves  into  his  power, 
and  in  a  few  days  brought  Pekuah,  with  her  maids, 
by  easy  Journeys,  to  the  place  appointed,  where,  re- 
ceiving the  stipulated  price,  he  restored  her  with  great 
respect  to  liberty  and  her  friends,  and  undertook  to 
conduct  them  back  towards  Cairo,  beyond  all  danger 
of  robbery  or  violence. 

The  princess  and  her  favorite  embraced  each  other 
with  transport  too  violent  to  be  expressed,  and  went 


68  RASSELAS. 

out  together  to  pour  the  tears  of  tenderness  in  secret, 
and  exchange  professions  of  l<indness  and  gratitude. 
After  a  few  liours  they  returned  into  tlie  refectory  of 
tlie  convent,  wliere  in  the  presence  of  tlie  prior  and  his 
brethren,  the  prince  required  of  Pekuah  the  history  of 
her  adventures. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  LADY  PEKUAH.     , 

"  At  what  time  and  in  what  manner  I  was  forced 
away,"  said  Pekuah,  "your  servants  have  told  you. 
Tlie  suddenness  of  the  event  struclt  me  with  surprise, 
and  I  was  at  first  rather  stupefied  than  agitated  with 
any  passion  of  either  fear  or  sorrow.  My  confusion 
was  increased  by  the  speed  and  tumult  of  our  flight, 
while  we  were  followed  hy  ihe  Turks,  who,  as  it 
seemed,  soon  despaired  to  overtake  us,  or  were  afraid 
of  those  whom  they  made  a  show  of  menacing. 

"When  the  Arabs  saw  themselves  out  of  danger 
they  slackened  their  course,  and  as  I  was  less  harassed 
by  external  violence,  I  began  to  feel  more  uneasiness 
in  my  mind.  After  some  time  we  stopped  near  a 
spring,  shaded  with  trees  in  a  pleasant  meadow,  where 
we  were  set  upon  the  ground  and  oflered  such  re- 
freshments as  our  masters  were  iDartakiug.  I  was 
suffered  to  sit  with  my  maids  apart  from  the  rest,  and 
none  attempted  to  comfort  or  insult  us.  Here  I  first 
began  to  feel  the  full  weight  of  my  misery.  The 
girls  sat  w^eeping  in  silence,  and  from  time  to  time 
looked  on  me  for  succor.  I  knew^  not  to  what  condi- 
tion we  were  doomed,  nor  could  conjecture  where 
would  be  the  place  of  our  captivity,  or  whence  to  draw 
any  hope  of  deliverance.  I  was  in  the  hands  of  rob- 
bers and  savages,  and  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
their  pity  was  more  than  their  justice,  or  that  they 
would  forbear  the  gratification  of  any  ardor  of 
desire  or  caprice  of  cruelty.  1,  however,  kissed  my 
maids,  and  endeavored  to  pacify  them  by  remarking 
that  we  were  yet  treated  with  decency,  and  that,  since 
we  were  now  carried  beyond  pursuit,  there  was  no 
danger  of  violence  to  our  lives. 

"  When  we  were  to  be  set  again  on  horseback,  my 
maids  clung  round  me,  and  refused  to  be  parted,  but 
I  commanded  them  not  to  irritate  those  who  had  us  in 
their  power.  We  traveled  the  remaining  part  of  the 
day  through  an  unfrequented  and  pathless  country, 
and  came  by  moonlight  to  the  side  of  a  hill,  where  the 
rest  of  the  troop  was  stationed.    Their  tents  were 


RASSELAS.  69 

pitched  and  their  lires  kindled,  and  our  chief  was  wel- 
comed as  a  man  much  beloved  by  his  dependents. 

"  We  were  received  into  a  large  tent,  where  we 
found  women  who  had  attended  their  husbands  in  the 
expedition.  They  set  before  us  the  supper  which  they 
had  provided,  and  I  ate  it  ratlier  to  encourage  my 
maids  than  to  comply  with  any  appetite  of  my  own. 
When  the  meat  was  taken  away  they  spread  the  car- 
pets for  repose.  1  was  weary,  and  hoped  to  lind  in 
sleep  that  remission  of  distress  wiiich  natiu-e  seldom 
denies.  Ordering  myself  therefore  to  be  undressed,  I 
observed  that  the  women  looked  very  earnestly  upon 
me,  not  expecting,  I  suppose,  to  see  me  so  submis- 
sively attended.  When  my  upper  vest  was  taken  off, 
they  were  apparently  struck  by  the  splendor  of  my 
clothes,  and  one  of  them  timorously  laid  her  hand 
upon  the  embroidery.  She  then  went  out,  and  in  a 
short  time  came  back  with  another  woman,  who 
seemed  to  be  of  higher  rank  and  greater  authority. 
She  did,  at  her  entrance,  the  usual  act  of  reverence, 
and,  taking  me  by  the  hand,  placed  me  in  a  smaller 
tent,  spread  with  finer  carpets,  where  I  spent  the  night 
quietly  with  my  maids. 

'•  In  the  morning,  as  I  was  sitting  on  the  grass,  the 
chief  of  the  troop  came  toward  me.  I  rose  up  to  receive 
him,  and  he  bowed  with  great  respect.  "Illustrious 
lady,"  said  he,  "my  fortune  is  better  than  I  had  pre- 
sumed to  hope;  I  am  told  by  my  women  that  I  have  a 
princess  in  my  camp.  *  Sir,'  answered  I,  '  your 
women  have  deceived  themselves  and  you;  I  am  not  a 
princess,  but  an  unhappy  stranger  who  intended  soon 
to  have  left  this  country,  in  which  I  am  now  to  be  im- 
prisoned forever.'  '  Whoever  or  whencesoever  you 
are,'  returned  the  Arab,  '  jour  dress  and  that  of  your 
servants  show  your  rank  to  be  high  and  your  wealth 
to  be  great.  Why  should  you,  who  can  so  easily  pro- 
cure your  ransom,  think  yourself  in  danger  of  perpet- 
ual captivity?  The  purpose  of  my  incursions  is  to 
increase  my  riches,  or,  more  properly,  to  gather  trib- 
ute. The  sons  of  Ishmael  are  the  natural  and  heredi- 
tary lords  of  this  part  of  the  continent,  which  is  usurped 
by  late  invaders  and  low-born  tyrants,  from  whom  we 
are  compelled  to  take  by  the  sword  what  is  denied  to 
justice.  The  violence  of  war  admits  no  distinction;  the 
lance  that  is  lifted  at  guilt  and  power  will  sometimes 
fall  on  innocence  and  gentleness." 

"  '  How  little,'  said  I,  *  did  I  expect  that  yesterday  it 
should  have  fallen  upon  me  !' 

"  '  Misfortunes,'  answered  the  Arab^  '  should  always 
be  expected.  If  the  eve  of  hostility  could  learn  rev- 
erence or  pity,  eivcellence  like  yours  had  been  exempt 
from  injury.     But  the  angels  of  affliction  spread  their 


YO  RASSELAS. 

toils  alike  for  the  virtuous  and  the  wicked,  for  the 
mighty  and  the  mean.  Do  not  be  disconsolate:  I  am 
not  one  of  the  lawless  and  cruel  rovers  of  the  desert;  1 
know  the  rules  of  civil  life;  I  will  fix  your  ransom, 
give  a  passport  to  your  messenger,  and  perform  my 
stipulation  with  nice  punctuality.' 

"  You  will  easily  believe  that  I  was  pleased  with 
his  courtesy;  and,  finding  that  his  predominant  pas- 
sion was  desire  of  money,  I  began  now  to  think  my 
danger  less,  for  I  knew  that  no  sum  would  be  thought 
too  great  for  the  release  of  Pekuah.  I  told  him  that 
he  sliould  have  no  reason  to  charge  me  with  ingi-ati- 
tude,  if  I  was  used  with  kindness,  and  that  any  ran- 
som which  could  be  expected  from  a  maid  of  common 
rank  would  be  paid;  but  that  he  must  not  persist  to 
rate  me  as  a  princess.  He  said  he  would  consider 
what  he  should  demand,  and  then,  smiling,  bowed  and 
retired. 

"  Soon  after  the  women  came  about  me,  each  con- 
tending to  be  more  officious  than  the  other,  and  my 
maids  themselves  were  served  with  reverence.  We 
traveled  onward  by  short  journeys.  On  the  fourth 
day  the  chief  told  me  that  my  ransom  must  be  two 
hundred  ounces  of  gold;  which  I  not  only  promised 
him,  but  told  him  that  I  would  add  fifty  more  if  I  and 
my  maids  were  honorably  treated, 

"  I  never  knew  the  power  of  gold  before;  from  that 
time  I  was  the  leader  of  the  troop.  The  march  of 
every  day  was  longer  or  shorter  as  I  commanded, 
and  the  tents  were  pitched  where  I  chose  to  rest.  We 
now  had  camels  and  other  conveniences  for  travel,  my 
own  women  were  always  at  my  side,  and  I  amused 
myself  with  observing  the  manners  of  the  vagrant 
nations,  and  with  viewing  remains  of  ancient  edifices, 
with  which  these  deserted  countries  appear  to  have 
been,  in  some  distant  age,  lavishly  embellished. 

"  The  chief  of  the  band  was  a  man  far  from  illiter- 
ate: he  was  able  to  travel  by  the  stars  or  the  compass, 
and  had  marked,  in  his  erratic  expeditions,  such  ])laces 
as  are  most  worthy  the  notice  of  a  passenger.  He  ob- 
served to  me  that  buildings  are  always  best  preserved 
in  places  little  frequented  and  difficult  of  access;  for, 
when  once  a  country  declines  from  Its  primitive 
splendor,  the  more  inhabitants  are  left  the  quicker 
ruin  will  be  made.  Walls  supply  stones  more  easily 
than  quarries,  and  palaces  and  temples  will  be  demol- 
ished to  make  stables  of  granite  and  cottages  of  por- 
phyry." 


RASSELAS.  '  71 

CHAPITER  XXXIX. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  PEKUAH  CONTINUED. 

**We  wandered  about  in  this  manner  for  some 
weeks,  wlietlier,  as  our  chief  pretended,  for  my  gratifi- 
cation, or,  as  I  rather  suspected,  for  some  convenience 
of  his  own.  I  endeavored  to  appear  contented  where 
snllenness  and  resentment  would  liave  been  of  no  use, 
and  that  endeavor  conduced  mucli  to  the  cahnness  of 
my  mind;  but  my  heart  was  always  with  Nekayah, 
and  the  troubles  of  the  night  mucli  overbalanced  the 
amusements  of  the  day.  My  women,  who  threw  all 
their  cares  upon  their  mistress,  set  their  minds  at  ease 
from  the  time  when  they  saw  me  treated  with  respect, 
and  gave  themselves  up  to  the  incidental  alleviations  of 
our  fatigue  without  solicitude  or  sorrow.  J  was  pleased 
with  their  pleasure  and  animated  with  their  confidence. 
My  condition  had  lost  much  of  its  terror,  since  I  found 
tliat  the  Arab  ranged  the  country  merely  for  riches. 
Avarice  is  a  uniform  and  tractable  vice;  other  intel- 
lectual distempers  are  different  in  different  constitu- 
tions of  mind;  that  which  soothes  the  pride  of  one 
will  offend  the  pride  of  another;  but  to  the  favor  of 
the  covetous  there  is  a  ready  way;  bring  money,  and 
nothing  is  denied. 

"  At  last  we  came  to  the  dwelling  of  our  chief,  a 
strong  and  spacious  house  built  with  stone  in  an  island 
of  the  Nile,  which  lies,  as  I  was  told,  under  the  tropic. 
*  Lady,'  said  the  Arab,  *  you  shall  rest  after  your 
journey  a  few  weeks  in  this  place,  where  you  are  to 
consider  yourself  as  sovereign.  My  occupation  is  war: 
I  have  therefore  chosen  this  obscure  residence,  from 
which  I  can  issue  unexpected,  and  to  which  I  can 
retire  unpursued.  You  may  now  repose  in  security  : 
here  are  few  pleasures,  but  here  is  no  danger.'  He 
then  led  me  into  the  inner  apartments,  and,  seating 
me  on  the  richest  couch,  bowed  to  the  ground.  His 
women,  who  considered  me  as  a  rival,  looked  on  me 
with  malignity;  but  being  soon  informed  that  I  was 
a  great  lady  detained  only  for  my  ransom,  they  began 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  obsequiousness  and  reverence. 

' '  Being  again  comforted  with  new  assm-ances  of 
speedy  libertj^,  I  was  for  some  days  diverted  from  im- 
patience by  the  novelty  of  the  place.  The  turrets 
overlooked  the  country  to  a  great  distance  and 
afforded  a  view  of  many  windings  of  the  stream.  In 
the  day  I  wandered  from  one  place  to  another,  as  the 
course  of  the  sun  varied  the  splendor  of  the  prospect, 
and  saw  many  things  which  1  had  never  seen  before. 
The  crocodiles  and  river-horses  are  common  in  this 
unpeopled  region,  and  I  often  looked  upon  them  with 


72  RASSELAS. 

terror,  though  I  knew  tiiat  they  could  not  hurt  me. 
For  some  time  I  expected  to  see  mermaids  and  tritons, 
which,  as  Imlac  has  told  me,  the  European  travelers 
have  stationed  in  the  Nile;  but  no  such  heings  ever  ap- 
peared, and  the  Arab,  v/hen  I  inquired  after  them, 
laughed  at  my  credulity. 

"  At  night  the  Arab  always  attended  me  to  a  tower 
set  apart  for  celestial  observations,  where  he  endeav- 
ored to  teach  me  the  names  and  com'ses  of  the  stars.  I 
had  no  great  inclination  to  this  study,  but  an  appear- 
ance of  attention  was  necessaiy  to  please  my  instructor, 
who  valued  himself  for  his  skill;  and  in  a  little  while  1 
found  some  employment  requisite  to  beguile  the 
tediousness  of  time,  which  was  to  be  passed  always 
amid  the  same  objects.  I  was  weary  of  looking  in  the 
morning  on  things  from  which  I  had  turned  away 
weary  in  the  evening;  I  therefore  was  at  last  willing 
to  observe  the  stars  rather  than  do  nothing,  but  could 
not  always  compose  my  thoughts,  and  was  very  often 
thinking  on  Nekayah  when  others  imagined  me  con- 
templating the  sky.  Soon  after  the  Arab  went  upon 
another  expedition,  and  then  my  only  pleasure  was  to 
talk  with  my  maids  about  the  accident  by  which  we 
were  carried  away,  and  the  hapi^iness  that  we  should 
all  enjoy  at  the  end  of  our  captivity." 

"  There  were  women  in  your  Arab's  fortress,"  said 
the  princess,  "why  did  you  not  make  them  your  com- 
panions, enjoy  their  conversation,  and  partake  their 
diversions  ?  In  a  place  where  they  found  business  or 
amusement,  why  should  you  alone  sit  corroded  with 
idle  melancholy  ?  or  why  could  not  you  bear  for  a 
few  months  that  condition  to  which  they  were  con- 
demned for  life?" 

*'The  diversions  of  the  women,"  answered  Pekuah, 
*' were  only  childish  play,  by  which  the  mind,  accus- 
tomed to  stronger  operations,  could  not  be  kept  busy. 
I  could  do  all  which  they  delighted  in  doing  by  powers 
merely  sensitive,  while  my  intellectual  faculties  were 
flown  to  Cairo.  They  ran  from  room  to  room,  as  a 
bird  hops  from  wke  to  wire  in  his  cage.  They  danced 
for  the  sake  of  motion,  as  lambs  frisk  in  a  meadow. 
One  sometimes  pretended  to  be  hurt  that  the  rest 
might  be  alarmed;  or  hid  herself,  that  another  might 
seek  her.  Part  of  their  time  passed  in  watching  the 
progress  of  light  bodies  that  floated  on  the  river,  and 
part  in  marking  the  various  forms  into  which  clouds 
broke  in  the  sky. 

"  Their  business  was  only  needlework,  in  which  I 
and  my  maids  sometimes  helped  them;  but  you  know 
that  the  mind  will  easily  straggle  from  the  fingei-s,  nor 
will  you  suspect  that  captivity  and  absence  from 
Nekayah  could  receive  solace  from  silken  flowers. 


RASSELAS.  73 

"  Nor  was  much  satisfaction  to  be  hoped  from  their 
conversation  j  for  of  what  could  they  be  expected  to 
tallv  ?  They  had  seen  nothing-;  for  they  had  lived 
from  early  youth  in  that  narrow  spot  :  of  what  they 
had  not  seen  they  could  have  no  knowledge,  for 
they  could  not  read.  They  had  no  ideas  but  of  tiie 
few  things  that  were  within  their  view,  and  had  hardly 
names  for  anything  but  their  clothes  and  their  food. 
As  I  bore  a  superior  character,  I  was  often  called  to 
terminate  their  quarrels,  wiiich  I  decided  as  equitably 
as  1  could.  If  it  could  have  anmsed  me  to  hear  the 
complaints  of  each  against  the  rest,  I  might  have  been 
often  detained  by  long  stories  ;  but  the  motives  of 
their  animosity  were  so  small  that  I  could  not  listen 
without  interrupting  the  tale." 

"  How,"  said  Rasselas,  "  can  the  Arab,  whom  you 
represented  as  a  man  of  more  than  common  accom- 
plishments, take  any  pleasure  in  his  seraglio,  when  it  is 
filled  only  with  women  like  these  ?  'Are  the  exqui- 
sitely beautiful?" 

"They  do  not,"  said  Pekuah,  *'  want  that  unaffect- 
ing  and  ignoble  beauty  which  may  subsist  without 
sprightliness  or  sublimity,  without  energy  of  thought 
or  dignity  of  virtue.  But  to  a  man  like  the  Arab,  such 
beauty  was  only  a  flower  casually  plucked  and  care- 
lessly thrown  away.  Whatever  pleasures  he  might 
find  among  them,  they  were  not  those  of  friendship  or 
society.  When  they  were  playing  about  him,  he  looked 
on  them  with  inattentive  superiority j  when  they 
vied  for  his  regard,  he  sometimes  turned  away  dis- 
gusted. As  they  had  no  knowledge,  their  talk  could 
take  nothing  from  the  tediousness  of  life;  as  they  had 
no  choice,  their  fondness,  or  appearance  of  fondness, 
excited  in  him  neither  pride  nor  gratitude  :  he  was  not 
exalted  in  his  own  esteem  by  the  smiles  of  a  woman 
who  saw  no  other  man,  nor  was  much  obliged  by  that 
regard,  of  which  he  could  never  know  the  sincerity, 
and  which  he  might  often  perceive  to  be  exerted,  not 
so  much  to  delight  him  as  to  pain  a  rival.  That  which 
he  gave,  and  they  received ,  as  love,  was  only  a  careless 
distribution  of  superfluous  time,  such  love  as  man  can 
bestow  upon  that  which  he  despises,  such  as  has 
neither  hope  nor  fear,  neither  Joy  nor  sorrow." 

"  You  have  reason,  lady,  to  think  yourself  happy," 
said  Imlac,  "  that  you  have  been  thus  easily  dismissed. 
How  could  a  mind,  hungry  for  knowledge,  be  willing, 
in  an  intellectual  famine,  to  lose  such  a  banquet  as 
Pekuah's  conversation!  " 

"I  am  inclined  to  believe,"  answered  Pekuah, 
''that  he  was  for  some  time  in  suspense;  for,  not- 
withstanding his  promise,  whenever  I  proposed  to  dis- 
patch a  messenger  to  Cairo,  he  found  some  excuse  for 


74  RASSELAS. 

delay.  While  I  was  detained  in  his  house  he  made 
many  incursions  into  the  neighboring  countries,  and 
perhaps  he  would  have  refused  to  discharge  me  liad 
his  i)lunder  been  equal  to  his  wishes.  He  retiu-ned 
always  courteous,  related  his  adventures,  delighted  to 
hear  my  observations,  and  endeavored  to  advance  my 
acquaintance  with  the  stars.  When  I  importuned  him 
to  send  away  my  letters,  he  soothed  me  with  profes- 
sions of  honor  and  sincerit}^  :  and,  when  I  could  be  no 
longer  decently  denied,  put  his  troop  again  in  motion, 
and  left  me  to  govern  in  his  absence.  I  was  mucK 
afitiicted  by  this  studied  procrastination,  and  was  some- 
times afraid  that  I  should  be  forgotten;  that  you  would 
leave  Cairo,  and  I  must  end  my  days  in  an  island  of 
the  Nile. 

"  I  grew  at  last  hopeless  and  dejected,  and  cared  so 
little  to  entertain  him  that  he  for  a  while  more  fre- 
quently talked  with  my  maids.  That  he  should  fall  in 
love  with  them,  or  with  me,  might  have  been  equally 
fatal,  and  I  was  not  much  pleased  with  the  growing 
friendship.  My  anxiety  was  not  long;  for  as  I  re- 
covered some  degree  of  cheerfulness,  he  returned  to 
me,  and  I  could  not  forbear  to  despise  my  former  un- 
easiness. 

"  He  still  delayed  to  send  for  my  ransom,  and  would, 
perhaps,  never  have  determined,  had  not  your  agent 
found  his  way  to  him.  The  gold,  which  he  would  not 
fetch,  he  could  not  reject  when  it  was  offered.  He 
hastened  to  prepare  for  our  Journey  thither,  like  a  man 
delivered  from  the  pain  of  an  intestine  conflict.  1 
took  leave  of  my  companions  in  the  house,  who  dis- 
missed me  with  cold  indifference." 

Nekay ail,  having  heard  her  favorite's  relation,  rose 
and  embraced  her;  and  Rasselas  gave  her  a  hundred 
ounces  of  gold,  which  she  presented  to  the  Arab  for 
the  fifty  that  were  promised. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  A  MAN  OF  LEARNING. 

They  returned  to  Cairo,  and  were  so  well  pleased 
at  finding  themselves  together  that  none  of  them  went 
omch  abroad.  The  prince  began  to  love  learning,  and 
one  day  declared  to  Inilac  that  he  intended  to  devote 
himself  to  science,  and  pass  the  rest  of  his  days  in  liter- 
ary solitude. 

"Before  you  make  your  final  choice,"  answered 
Imlac,  "  you  ought  to  examine  its  hazards,  and  con- 
verse with  some  of  those  who  are  grown  old  in  the 
company  of  themselves.    I  have  just  left  the  observ* 


RASSELAS.  75 

atory  of  one  of  tlie  most  learned  astronomers  in  the 
world,  who  has  spent  forty  years  in  unwearied  atten- 
tion to  the  motions  and  api)earances  of  tiie  celestial 
bodies,  and  has  drawn  out  his  soul  in  endless  calcu- 
lations. He  admits  a  few  friends  once  a  month  to 
hear  his  deductions  and  enjoy  his  discoveries.  I  was 
introduced  as  a  man  of  knowledge  worthy  of  his  noticje. 
Men  of  various  ideas  and  fluent  conversation  are  com- 
monly welcome  to  those  whose  thoughts  have  been 
long  flxed  upon  a  single  point,  and  who  find  the 
images  of  other  things  stealing  away.  I  delighted  him 
with  my  remarks;  he  smiled  at  the  narrative  of  my 
travels,  and  was  glad  to  forget  the  constellations  and 
descend  for  a  moment  into  the  lower  world. 

"On  the  next  day  of  vacation  I  renewed  my  visit, 
and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  please  him  again.  He  re- 
laxed from  that  time  the  severity  of  his  rule,  and  per- 
mitted me  to  enter  at  my  own  choice.  I  found  him 
always  busy  and  always  glad  to  be  relieved.  As  each 
knew  much  which  tlie  other  was  desirous  of  learning, 
we  exchanged  our  notions  with  great  delight.  I  per- 
ceived that  I  had  every  day  more  of  his  confidence, 
and  always  found  new  cause  of  admiration  in  the  pro- 
fundity Qf  his  mind.  His  comprehension  is  vast,  his 
memory  capacious  and  retentive,  his  discourse  is 
methodical,  and  his  expression  clear. 

"  His  integrity  and  benevolence  are  equal  to  his 
learning.  His  deepest  researches  and  most  favorite 
studies  are  willingly  interrupted  for  any  opportunity  of 
doing  good  by  his  counsel  or  his  riches.  To  his  closest 
i-etreat,  at  his  most  busy  moments,  all  are  admitted 
that  want  his  assistance.  'For,  though  1  exclude 
idleness  and  pleasure,  1  will  never,'  says  he  '  bar  my 
doors  against  charity.  To  man  is  permitted  the  con- 
templation of  tho  skies,  but  the  practice  of  virtue  is 
commanded.  '  " 

"  Surely,"  said  the  princess,  "this  man  is  happy." 

"  I  visited  him,"  said  Imlac,  "  with  more  and  more 
frequency,  and  was  every  time  more  enamoured  of  his 
conversation;  he  was  sublime  without  haugirtiness, 
courteous  without  formality,  and  communicative  with- 
out ostentation.  I  was  at  first,  great  princess,  of  your 
opinion,  thought  him  the  happiest  of  mankind,  and 
often  congratulated  him  on  the  blessing  that  he  en- 
joyed. He  seemed  to  hear  nothing  with  indifference 
but  the  praises  of  his  condition,  to  which  he  always  re- 
turned a  general  answer,  and  diverted  the  conversation 
to  some  other  topic. 

"  Amid  this  willingness  to  be  pleased  and  labor  to 
please,  I  had  quickly  reason  to  imagine  that  some 
painful  sentiment  pressed  upon  his  mind.  He  often 
looked  up  earnestly  toward  the  sun,  and  let  his  yoice 


76  RASSELAS. 

fall  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse.  He  would  some- 
times, when  we  were  alone,  gaze  upon  me  in  silence, 
with  the  air  of  a  man  who  longed  to  speak  what  he 
was  yet  resolved  to  suppress.  He  would  often  send  for 
me  with  vehement  injunctions  of  haste,  though,  when  I 
came  to  him,  he  had  nothing  exti-aordinary  to  sa3\ 
And  sometimes,  when  I  wasleaving  hhii,  he  would 
call  me  hack,  pause  a  few  moments,  and  then  dismiss 
me." 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

THE  ASTRONOMER  DISCOVERS  THE  CAUSE  OP 
HIS  UNEASINESS. 

"  At  last  the  time  came  when  the  secret  burst  its 
reserve.  We  were  sitthig  together  last  night  in  the 
turret  of  his  house,  watching  the  emersion  of  a  satellite 
of  Jupiter.  A  sudden  tempest  clouded  the  sky  and 
disappointed  our  observation.  We  sat  awhile  silent  in 
the  dark,  and  then  he  addressed  himself  to  me  in  these 
words :  *  Imlac,  1  have  long  considered  thy  friendship 
as  the  greatest  blessing  of  my  life.  Integrity  withou: 
knowledge  is  weak  and  useless,  and  knowledge  wiiii- 
out  integrity  is  dangerous  and  dreadful.  1  have  found 
in  thee  all  the  qualities  requisite  for  trust,  benevolence, 
experience,  and  fortitude.  I  have  long  discharged  an 
office  which  I  must  soon  quit  at  the  call  of  nature,  and 
shall  rejoice  in  the  hour  of  imbecility  and  pain,  to  de- 
volve it  upon  thee. 

"I  thought  m3^self  honored  hy  this  testimony,  and 
protested  that  whatever  would  conduce  to  his  happi- 
ness would  add  likewise  to  mine. 

"  *  Hear,  Imlac,  what  thou  wilt  not  without  difficulty 
credit.  I  have  possessed  for  five  years  the  regulation 
of  the  weather  and  the  distribution  of  the  seasons; 
the  sun  has  listened  to  my  dictates,  and  passed  from 
tropic  to  tropic  by  my  direction;  the  clouds,  at  my  call, 
have  poured  their  waters,  and  the  Nile  has  overflowed 
at  my  command;  I  have  restrained  the  rage  of  the 
dog-star  and  mitigated  the  fervors  of  the  crab.  The 
winds  alone,  of  alftlie  elemental  powers,  have  hitherto 
refused  my  authority,  and  multitudes  have  perished 
by  equinoctial  tempest,  which  I  found  myself  unable 
to  prohibit  or  restrain.  I  have  administered  this  great 
office  with  exact  justice,  and  made  to  the  different 
nations  of  the  earth  an  impartial  dividend  of  rain  and 
sunshine.  What  must  have  been  the  miseiy  of  half 
the  globe  if  I  had  limited  the  clouds  to  particular 
regions,  or  confined  the  sun  to  either  side  of  the 
equator  V  " 


RASSELAS.  77 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

THE  OPINION  OF  THE   ASTRONOMER  IS  EXPLAINED 
AND  JUSTIFIED. 

•'  I  SUPPOSE  lie  discovered  in  me,  through  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  room,  some  tokens  of  amazement  and 
doubt,  for,  after  a  short  pause,  he  proceeded  thus: 

"  '  Not  to  be  easily  credited  will  neither  surprise  nor 
offend  me;  for  I  am,  probably,  the  first  of  human 
behigs  to  whom  this  trust  has  been  hnparted.  Nor 
do  I  know  whether  to  deem  the  distinction  a  reward 
or  punishment;  since  I  have  possessed  it  I  have  been 
far  less  happy  than  before,  and  nothing  but  the  con- 
sciousness of  good  intention  could  have  enabled  me  to 
support  the  weariness  of  unremitted  vigilance.' 

"  '  How  long,  sir,'  "  said  I,'  has  this  great  office  been 
in  your  hands  ?' 

"  'About  ten  years  ago,'  said  he,  '  my  daily  obser- 
vations of  the  changes  of  the  sky  led  me  to  consider 
whether,  if  I  had  the  power  of  the  seasons,  I  could 
confer  greater  plenty  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 
This  contemplation  fastened  upon  my  mind,  and  I  sat 
days  and  nights  in  imaginary  dominion,  pouring  upon 
this  country  and  that  the  sliowers  of  fertility,  and  sec- 
onding every  fall  of  rain  with  a  due  proportion  of  sun- 
shine. I  had  3'et  only  the  will  to  do  good,  and  did  not 
imagine  that  1  should  ever  have  the  power. 

"  '  One  day,  as  I  was  looking  on  the  fields  withering 
with  heat.  I  felt  in  my  mind  a  sudden  wish  that  I 
could  send  rain  on  the  southern  mountains  and  raise 
the  Nile  to  an  inundation.  In  the  hurry  of  my  imagi- 
nation I  commanded  rain  to  fall;  and,  by  comparing 
the  time  of  my  command  with  that  of  the  inundation, 
I  found  that  the  clouds  had  listened  to  my  lips.' 

'"Might  not  some  other  cause,'  said  I,  'produce 
this  concurrence  ?  the  Nile  does  not  always  rise  on  the 
same  day.' 

"  'Do  not  believe,'  said  he  with  impatience,  'that 
such  objections  could  escape  me;  I  reasoned  long 
against  my  own  conviction,  and  labored  against  truth 
with  the  utmost  obstinacy.  I  sometimes  suspected 
myself  of  madness,  and  should  not  have  dared  to  im- 
part this  secret  but  to  a  man  like  you,  capable  of  dis- 
tinguishing the  wonderful  from  the  impossible,  and  the 
incredible  from  the  false.' 

"  '  Why,  sir,'  said  I,  '  do  you  call  that  incredible 
which  you  know,  or  think  you  know,  to  be  true  ?" 

*' '  Because,'  said  he,  '  I  cannot  prove  it  by  any  ex- 
ternal evidence;  and  I  know  too  well  the  laws  of 
demonstration  to  think  that  my  conviction  ought  to 
influence  another,  who  cannot,  like  me,  be  conscious 


78  RASSELAS. 

of  its  force.  I  therefore  shall  not  attempt  to  gain 
credit  by  disputation.  It  is  sufficient  that  I  feel  this 
power,  tliat  I  have  long  possessed  and  every  day  ex- 
erted it.  But  the  life  of  man  is  sliort,  the  infirmities 
of  age  increase  upon  me,  and  tlie  time  will  soon  come 
when  the  regulator  of  the  year  must  mingle  with  the 
dust.  The  care  of  appointing  a  successor  has  long  dis- 
turbed me;  the  night  and  the  day  have  been  spent  in 
comparisons  of  all  the  characters  which  have  come  to 
my  knowledge,  and  I  have  yet  found  none  so  worthy 
as  thyself.'  " 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

THE  ASTRONOMER  LEAVES  IMLAC  HIS  DIRECTIONS. 

"  '  Hear,  therefore,  what  I  shall  impart  with  atten- 
tion, such  as  the  welfare  of  the  world  requires.  If  the 
task  of  a  king  be  considered  as  difficult,  who  has  the 
care  only  of  a  few  millions,  to  whom  he  cannot  do 
much  good  or  harm,  what  must  be  the  anxiety  of  him 
on  whom  depends  the  action  of  the  elements,  and  the 
great  gifts  of  light  and  heat  ?  Hear  me  therefore  with 
attention. 

"'[  have  diligently  considered  the  position  of  the 
earth  and  sun,  and  formed  innumerable  schemes  in 
which  I  changed  their  situation.  I  have  sometimes 
turned  aside  the  axis  of  the  earth,  and  sometimes  varied 
the  ecliptic  of  the  sun;  but  I  have  found  it  impossible 
to  make  a  disposition  by  which  the  world  may  be 
advantaged;  what  one  region  gains  another  loses  by 
an  imaginable  alteration,  even  without  considering  the 
distant  parts  of  the  solar  system  with  which  we  are  un- 
acquainted. Do  not,  therefore,  in  thy  administration 
of  the  year,  indulge  thy  pride  by  innovation;  do  not 
please  thyself  with  thinking  that  thou  canst  make  thy- 
self renowned  to  all  future  ages  by  disordering  the 
seasons.  The  memory  of  mischief  is  no  desirable 
fame.  Much  less  will  it  become  thee  to  let  kindness 
or  interest  prevail.  Never  rob  other  countries  of  rain, 
to  pour  it  on  thine  own.     For  us  the  Nile  is  sufficient.' 

"I  promised  that  when  I  possessed  the  power  I 
would  use  it  with  inflexible  integrity;  and  he  dismissed 
me,  pressing  my  hand.  '  My  heart,'  said  he,  "  will  be 
at  rest,  and  my  benevolence  will  no  more  destroy  my 
quiet;  I  have  found  a  man  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  to 
whom  I  can  cheerfully  bequeath  the  inheritance  of  the 
sun.' " 

The  prince  heard  this  narration  with  very  serious 
regard;  but  the  princess  smiled,  and  Pekuah  convulsed 
herself  with  laughter.     *< Ladies,"  said  Imlae,  "to 


RASSELAS.  79 

mock  the  heaviest  of  human  afiflictions  is  neither  char- 
itable nor  wise.  Few  can  attain  this  man's  knowledge, 
and  few  practice  his  virtues;  but  all  may  suffer  his 
(calamity.  Of  the  uncertainties  of  our  present  state, 
the  most  dreadful  and  alarming  is  the  uncertain  con- 
tinuance of  reason." 

The  princess  was  recollected,  and  the  favorite  was 
abashed,  llasselas,  more  deeply  affected,  inquhed  of 
Imlac  whether  he  thought  such  maladies  of  the  mind 
frequent,  and  how  they  were  contracted  ? 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

THE  DANGEROUS  PREVALENCE  OF  IMAGINATION. 

"  Disorders  of  intellect,"  answered  Imlac,  "  hap- 
pen nuich  more  often  than  superficial  observers  will 
believe.  Perhaps,  if  we  speak  with  rigorous  exactness, 
no  human  mind  is  in  its  right  state.  There  is  no  man 
whose  imagination  does  not  sometimes  predominate 
over  his  reason,  who  can  regulate  his  attention  wholly 
by  his  will,  and  whose  ideas  will  come  and  go  at  his 
command.  No  man  will  be  found  in  whose  mind 
airy  notions  do  not  sometimes  tyrannize,  and  force 
him  to  hope  or  fear  beyond  the  limits  of  sober  prob- 
ability. All  power  of  fancy  over  reason  is  a  degree  of 
insanity;  but  while  this  power  is  such  as  we  can  con- 
trol and  repress,  it  is  not  visible  to  othei'S,  nor  con- 
sidered as  any  deprivation  of  the  mental  faculties;  it 
is  not  pronounced  madness  but  when  it  becomes  un- 
governable, and  apparently  influences  speech  or  ac- 
tion. 

*'  To  indulge  the  power  of  fiction,  and  send  imagina- 
tion out  upon  the  wing,  is  often  the  sport  of  those 
who  delight  too  much  in  silent  speculation.  When  we 
are  alone  we  are  not  always  busy;  the  labor  of  excogi- 
tation is  too  violent  to  last  long;  the  ardor  of  inquiry 
will  sometimes  give  way  to  idleness  or  satiety.  He 
who  has  nothing  external  that  can  divert  him  must 
find  pleasure  in  his  own  thoughts,  and  must  conceive 
himself  what  he  is  not;  for  who  is  pleased  with  what 
he  is  ?  He  then  expatiates  in  boundless  futurity,  and 
culls  from  all  imaginable  conditions  that  which  for  the 
present  moment  he  should  most  desire,  amuses  his  de- 
sires with  impossible  enjoyments,  and  confers  upon 
pride  unattainable  dominion.  The  mind  dances  from 
scene  to  scene,  unites  all  pleasures  In  all  combina- 
tions, and  riots  in  delights  which  nature  and  fortune, 
with  all  their  bounty,  can  bestow. 


80  RASSELAS. 

"In  time  some  pavticnlar  train  of  ideas  fixes  the 
attention;  all  other  intellectual  gratifications  are  re- 
jected; the  mind  in  weariness  or  leism-e  recurs  con- 
stantly to  the  favorite  conception,  and  feasts  on  the 
luscious  falsehood  whenever  she  is  offended  with  the 
bitterness  of  truth.  By  degrees  the  reign  of  fancy  is 
confirmed;  she  grows  first  imperious  and  in  time  des- 
potic. Then  fictions  begin  to  operate  as  realities,  false 
opinions  'fasten  upon  the  mind,  and  life  passes  in 
dreams  of  rapture  or  of  anguish. 

"This,  sir,  is  one  of  the  dangers  of  solitude  which 
the  hermit  has  confessed,  not  always  to  promote  good- 
ness, and  the  astronomer's  misery  has  proved  to  be 
not  always  propitious  to  wisdom." 

"I  will  no  more,"  said  the  favorite,  "imagine  my- 
self the  queen  of  Abyssinia.  I  have  often  spent  the  hours 
which  the  princess  gave  to  my  own  disposal,  in  adjusting 
ceremonies  and  regulating  the  court;  I  have  repressed 
the  pride  of  the  powerful  and  granted  the  petitions 
of  the  poor;  I  have  built  new  palaces  in  more  happy 
situations,  planted  groves  upon  Ihe  tops  of  mountains, 
and  have  exulted  in  the  beneficence  of  royalty,  till, 
when  the  princess  entered,  I  had  almost  forgotten  to 
bow  down  before  her." 

"And  I,"  said  the  princess,  "  will  not  allow  myself 
any  more  to  play  the  shepherdess  in  my  waking  dreams. 
I  have  often  soothed  my  thoughts  with  the  quiet  and 
innocence  of  pastoral  employments,  till  I  liave  in  my 
chamber  heard  the  winds  whistle,  and  the  sheep  bleat; 
sometimes  freed  the  lamb  entangled  in  the  thicket, 
and  sometimes  with  my  crook  encountered  the  wolf.  I 
have  a  dress  like  that  of  the  yillage  maids,  which  I  put 
on  to  help  my  imagination,  and  a  pipe,  on  which  I 
play  softly,  and  suppose  myself  followed  by  my  flocks." 

"1  will  confess,"  said  the  prince,  "  an  indulgence  of 
fantastic  delight  more  dangerous  than  yours.  I  have 
frequently  endeavored  to  image  the  possibility  of  a 
perfect  government,  by  which  all  wrong  should  be 
restrained,  all  vice  reformed,  and  all  the  subjects  pre- 
served in  tranquility  and  innocence.  This  tliought 
produced  innumerable  schemes  of  reformation,  and 
dictated  many  useful  regulations  and  salutary  edicts . 
This  has  been  the  sport  and  sometimes  the  labor  of  my 
solitude;  and  I  start  when  I  think  with  how  little 
anguish  I  once  supposed  the  death  of  my  father  and 
my  brothers." 

"Such,"  said  Imlac,  "are  the  effects  of  visionary 
schemes.  When  we  first  form  them  we  know  them  to 
be  absurd,  but  familiarize  them  by  degrees,  and  iu 
time  lose  sight  of  their  folly." 


RASSELAS.  81 

CHAPTER  XLV, 

THEY  DISCOURSE  WITH  AN  OLD  MAN. 

The  evening  was  now  far  passed,  and  they  rose 
to  return  home.  As  they  walked  along  the  bank  of 
the  Nile,  delighted  with  the  beams  of  the  moon  quiver- 
ing on  the  w^ater,  tliey  saw  at  a  small  distance  an  old 
man,  wliom  the  prince  had  often  heard  in  the  assem- 
bly of  the  sages.  "  Yonder,"  said  he,  "  is  one  whose 
years  have  calmed  his  passions  but  not  clouded  his 
reason :  let  us  close  the  disquisitions  of  the  night  by 
inquiring  what  are  his  sentiments  of  his  own  state, 
that  we  may  know  whether  youth  alone  is  to  struggle 
with  vexation,  and  whether  any  better  hope  remains  for 
the  latter  part  of  life." 

Here  the  sage  approached  and  saluted  them„  They 
invited  him  to  join  their  walk,  and  prattled  awhile,  as 
acquaintance  that  had  unexpectedly  met  one  another. 
The  old  man  was  cheerful  and  talkative,  and  the  way 
seemed  short  in  his  company.  He  was  pleased  to  find 
himself  not  disregarded,  accompanied  them  to  their 
house,  and,  at  the  prince's  request,  entered  with  them. 
They  placed  him  in  the  seat  of  honor,  and  set  wine  and 
conserves  before  him. 

"Sir,"  said  the  princess,  "an  evening  walk  must 
give  to  a  man  of  learning,  like  you,  pleasures  which 
ignorance  and  youth  can  hardly  conceive.  You  know 
the  qualities  and  the  causes  of  all  that  you  behold,  the 
laws  by  which  the  river  fiows,  the  periods  in  which 
the  planets  perform  their  revolutions.  Everything 
must  supply  you  with  contemplation,  and  renew  the 
consciousness  of  your  own  dignity." 

"Lady,"  answered  he,  "  let  the  gay  and  the  vigorous 
expect  pleasure  in  then'  excursions;  it  is  enough  that 
age  can  obtain  ease.  To  me  the  world  has  lost  its 
novelty:  I  look  round  and  see  what  I  remember  to 
have  seen  in  happier  days.  1  rest  against  a  tree,  and 
consider  that  in  the  same  shade  I  once  disputed  upon 
the  annual  overflow  of  the  Nile  with  a  friend  who  is 
now  silent  in  the  grave.  I  cast  my  eyes  upward,  fix 
them  on  the  changing  moon,  and  think  with  pain  on 
the  vicissitudes  of  life.  I  have  ceased  to  take  much 
delight  in  physical  truth;  for  what  have  I  to  do  with 
those  things  which  I  am  soon  to  leave  ?  " 

"  You  may  at  least  recreate  yourself,"  said  Imlac, 
"  with  the  recollection  of  an  honorable  and  useful  hfe, 
and  enjoy  the  praise  which  all  agree  to  give  you." 

"  Praise,"  said  the  sage,  with  a  sigh,  "is  to  an  old 
man  an  empty  sound,  "l  have  neither  mother  to  be  de- 
lighted with  the  reputation  of  her  son  nor  wife  to  par- 
take the  honors  of  her  liusband.    I  have  outlived  my 


83  RASSELAS. 

friends  and  my  rivals.  Nothing  is  now  of  much  im- 
portance; for  I  cannot  extend  my  interest  beyond 
myself.  Youth  is  delighted  with  applause,  because  it 
is  considered  as  the  earnest  of  some  future  good,  and 
because  the  prospect  of  life  is  far  extended;  but  to  me, 
who  am  now  declining  to  decrepitude,  there  is  little  to 
be  feared  from  the  malevolence  of  men,  and  yet  less  to 
be  hoped  from  their  affection  or  esteem.  Something 
they  may  yet  take  away,  but  they  can  give  me  nothing. 
Riches  would  now  be  useless,  and  high  emplojanent 
would  be  pain.  My  retrospect  of  life  recalls  to  my 
view  many  opportunities  of  good  neglected,  much  time 
squandered  upon  trifles,  and  more  lost  in  idleness  and 
vacancy.  I  leave  many  great  designs  unattempted, 
and  many  great  attempts  unfinished.  My  mind  is  bur- 
dened with  no  heavy  crime,  and  therefore  I  compose 
myself  to  tranquility;  endeavor  to  abstract  my  thoughts 
from  hopes  and  cares,  which,  though  reason  knows 
them  to  be  vain,  still  try  to  keep  their" old  possession  of 
the  heart;  expect,  with  serene  humility,  that  hour  which 
nature  cannot  long  delay;  and  hope  to  possess,  in  a 
better  state,  that  happiness  which  here  I  could  not  find, 
and  that  virtue  which  here  I  have  not  attained." 

He  rose  and  went  away,  leaving  his  audience  not 
much  elated  with  the  hope  of  long  life.  The  prince 
consoled  himself  with  remarking  that^  it  was  not  rea- 
sonable to  be  disappointed  by  this  account;  for  age 
had  never  been  considered  as  the  season  of  felicity; 
and  if  it  was  possible  to  be  easy  in  decline  and  weak- 
ness, it  was  likely  that  the  days  of  vigor  and  alacrity 
miglit  be  happy;  that  the  noon  of  life  could  be  bright 
if  the  evening  could  be  cahii. 

The  princess  suspected  that  age  was  querulous  and 
malignant,  and  delighted  to  repress  the  expectations  of 
those  who  had  newly  entered  the  world.  She  had 
seen  the  possessors  of  estates  look  with  envy  on  their 
heirs,  and  known  many  who  enjoyed  pleasure  no 
longer  than  they  could  confine  it  to  themselves. 

Pekuah  conjectured  that  the  man  was  older  than  he 
appeared,  and  was  willing  to  impute  his  complaints  to 
delirious  dejection;  or  else  supposed  that  he  had  been 
unfortunate  and  was  therefore  discontented;  "  For 
nothing,"  said  she,  "  is  more  common  than  to  call  our 
own  condition  the  condition  of  life." 

Imlae,  who  had  no  desire  to  see  them  depressed, 
smiled  at  the  comforts  which  they  could  so  readily 
procure  to  themselves,  and  remembered  that  at  .the 
same  age  he  was  equally  confident  of  unmingled  pros- 
perity, and  equally  fertile  of  consolatory  expedients. 
He  forbore  to  force  upon  them  unwelcome  knowledge, 
which  time  itself  would  too  soon  impress.  The  prin- 
cess and  her  lady  retired;  the  madness  of  the  astron- 


RASSELAS.  83 

omer  hung  upon  their  minds,  and  they  desired  Imlac 
to  enter  upon  ills  office  and  delay  next  morning  the 
rising  of  the  sun. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE  PRINCESS  AND  PEKUAH    VISIT  THE 
ASTRONOMER. 

The  princess  and  Pekuah,  having  talked  in  private 
of  Imlac's  astronomer,  thought  his  diaracter  at  once  so 
amiable  and  so  strange  that'they  could  not  be  satisfied 
without  a  nearer  knowledge;  and  Imlac  was  requested 
to  find  the  means  of  bringing  them  together. 

This  was  somewhat  di^fticult;  the  philosopher  had 
never  received  any  visits  from  women,  though  he  lived 
in  a  city  that  had  in  it  many  Europeans,  who  followed 
the  manners  of  their  own  countries,  and  many  from 
other  parts  of  the  world,  that  lived  there  with  Euro- 
pean liberty.  The  ladies  would  not  be  refused,  and 
several  schemes  were  proposed  for  the  accomphsh- 
ment  of  their  design.  It  was  proposed  to  introduce 
them  as  strangers  in  distress,  to  whom  the  sage  was 
always  accessible;  but,  after  some  deliberation,  it 
appeared  that  by  this  artifice  no  acquaintance  could  be 
formed,  for  their  conversation  would  be  short,  and 
they  could  not  decently  importune  him  often.  "  This,'* 
said  Rasselas,  "  is  true;  but  I  have  yet  a  stronger  ob- 
jection against  the  misrepresentation  of  your  state.  I 
have  always  considered  it  as  treason  against  the  great 
republic  of  human  nature  to  make  any  man's  virtues 
the  means  of  deceiving  him,  whether  on  great  or  little 
occasions.  All  imposture  weakens  confidence  and 
chills  benevolence.  When  the  sage  finds  that  you  are 
not  what  you  seemed,  he  will  feel  the  resentment 
natural  to  a  man  who,  conscious  of  great  abilities,  dis- 
covers that  he  has  been  tricked  by  understandings 
meaner  than  his  own;  and  perliaps  the  distrust,  which 
he  can  never  afterward  wholly  lay  aside,  may  stop  the 
voice  of  counsel  and  close  the  hand  of  charity;  and 
where  will  you  find  the  power  of  restoring  his  benefac- 
tions to  mankind  or  his  peace  to  himself?" 

To  this  no  reply  was  attempted,  and  Imlac  began  to 
hope  that  their  curiosity  would  subside;  but,  next  day, 
Pekuah  told  him  she  had  now  found  an  honest  pre- 
tense for  a  visit  to  the  astronomer,  for  she  would  solicit 
permission  to  continue  under  him  the  studies  in  which 
she  had  been  initiated  by  the  Arab,  and  the  princess 
might  go  with  her  either  as  a  fellow-student,  or  be- 
cause a  woman  could  not  decently  come  alone.  "I 
am  afraid,"  said  Imlac,  "  that  he  will  be  soon  weary 


84  RASSELAS. 

of  your  company;  men  advaiice(]  far  in  knowledge  do 
not  love  to  repeat  the  elements  of  their  art,  and  I  am 
not  certain  that  even  of  tlie  elements,  as  he  will  de- 
liver them  connected  with  hiferences  and  mingled 
with  reflections,  you  are  a  very  capable  auditress," 

"That,"  said  Pekuah,  "  must  be  my  care;  I  ask  of 
you  only  to  take  me  thither.  My  knowledge  is,  per- 
haps, more  than  you  imagine  it;  and  by  concurring 
always  with  his  opinions  i  shall  make  him  think  it 
greater  than  it  is." 

The  astronomer,  in  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  was 
told  that  a  foreign  lady,  traveling  in  search  of  knowl- 
edge, had  heard  of  his  reputation,  and  was  desirous  to 
become  his  scholar.  The  uncommonness  of  the  pro- 
posal raised  at  once  his  surprise  and  curiosity;  and 
when,  after  a  short  deliberation,  he  consented  to  ad- 
mit her,  he  could  not  stay  without  impatience  till  the 
next  day. 

The  ladies  dressed  themselves  magnificently,  and 
were  attended  by  Imlac  to  the  astronomer,  who  was 
pleased  to  see  himself  approached  with  respect  by  per- 
sons of  so  splendid  an  appearance.  In  the  exchange 
of  the  first  civilities  he  was  timorous  and  bashful;  but 
when  the  talk  became  regular,  he  recollected  his  pow- 
ers, and  justified  the  character  which  Imlac  had  given. 
Inquiring  of  Pekuah,  what  could  have  turned  her  in- 
clination toward  astronomj^  ?  he  received  from  her  a 
history  of  her  adventure  at  the  pyramid,  and  of  the 
time  passed  in  the  Arab's  island.  She  told  her  tale 
with  ease  and  elegance,  and  her  conversation  took 
possession  of  his  heart.  The  discourse  was  then  turned 
to  astronomy;  Pekuah  displayed  what  she  knew;  he 
looked  upon  her  as  a  prodigy  of  genius,  and  entreated 
her  not  to  desist  from  a  study  which  she  had  so  hap- 
pily begun. 

They  came  again  and  again,  and  were  every  time 
more  welcome  than  before.  The  sage  endeavored  to 
amuse  them,  that  they  might  prolong  their  visits,  for 
he  found  his  thoughts  grow  brighter  in  their  company; 
the  clouds  of  solicitude  vanish.ed  by  degrees^  as  he 
forced  himself  to  entertain  them;  and  he  grieved  when 
he  was  left  at  their  departure  to  his  old  employment  of 
regulating  the  seasons. 

The  princess  and  her  favorite  had  now  watched  his 
lips  for  several  months,  and  could  not  catch  a  single 
word  from  which  they  could  judge  whether  he  con- 
tinued, or  not,  in  the  opinion  of  his  preternatural  com- 
mission. They  often  contrived  to  bring  him  to  an 
open  declaration;  but  he  easily  eluded  all  tlieir  attacks, 
and  on  which  side  soever  they  pressed  him  escaped 
from  them  to  some  otlier  topic. 


RASSELAS.  85 

As  their  familiarity  increased,  they  invited  liim 
often  to  the  lionse  of  Imlac,  where  they  distinguished 
hnn  by  extraonUnary  respect.  He  began  gradually  to 
delight  in  sublunary  pleasures.  He  came  early,  and 
departed  late 3  labored  to  recommend  himself  by  as- 
siduity and  compliance^  excited  their  curiosity  after 
new  arts,  that  they  might  still  want  his  assistance;  and 
when  tliey  made  any  excursion  of  pleasm-e  or  inquiry, 
entreated  to  attend  them. 

By  long  experience  of  his  integrity  and  wisdom,  the 
))rince  and  his  sister  were  convinced  that  he  might  be 
trusted  without  danger;  and,  lest  he  should  draw  any 
false  hopes  from  the  civilities  which  he  received,  dis- 
covered to  him  their  condition,  with  the  motives  of 
their  jouiney;  and  required  his  opinion  on  the  choice 
of  life. 

"  Of  the  various  conditions  which  the  world  spreads 
before  you,  which  you  shall  prefer,"  said  the  sage,  *'  I 
am  not  able  to  instruct  you.  I  can  only  tell  that  I  have 
chosen  wrong.  I  have  passed  my  time  in  study  with- 
out experience;  in  the  attainment  of  sciences  which 
can,  for  the  most  part,  be  but  remotely  useful  to  man- 
kind. I  have  purchased  knowledge  at  the  expense  of 
all  the  common  comforts  of  life;  I  have  missed  the  en- 
dearing elegance  of  female  friendship,  and  the  happy 
commerce  of  domestic  tenderness.  If  I  have  obtained 
any  prerogatives  above  other  students,  they  have  been 
accompanied  with  fear,  disquiet,  and  scrupulosity,  but 
even  of  these  prerogatives,  whatever  they  were,  I  have, 
since  my  thoughts  have  been  diversified  by  more  in- 
tercourse with  the  world,  begun  to  question  the  reality. 
When  I  have  been  for  a  few  days  lost  in  pleasing  dissi- 
pation, I  am  always  tempted  to  think  that  my  inquiries 
have  ended  in  error,  and  that  I  have  suffered  much, 
and  suffered  it  in  vain." 

Imlac  was  deliglited  to  find  that  the  sage's  under- 
standing was  breaking  through  its  mists,  and  re- 
solved to  detain  him  from  the  planets  till  he  should 
forget  his  task  of  ruling  them,  and  reason  should  re- 
cover its  original  influence. 

From  this  time  the  astronomer  was  received  into 
familiar  friendship,  and  partook  of  all  their  projects 
and  pleasures;  his  respect  kept  him  attentive,  and  the 
activity  of  Kasselas  did  not  leave  much  time  unengaged. 
Something  was  always  to  be  done;  the  day  was  spent 
in  making  observations,  which  furnished  talk  for  the 
evening,  and  the  evening  was  closed  with  a  scheme  for 
the  morrow. 

The  sage  confessed  to  Imlac,  that  since  he  had  min- 
gled in  the  gay  tumults  of  life,  and  divided  his  hours 
by  a  succession  of  amusements,  he  found  the  convic- 
tion of  his  authority  over  the  skies  fade  gradually  from 


86  RASSELAS. 

his  mind,  and  began  to  trust  less  to  an  opinion  which 
he  never  could  prove  to  others,  and  which  he  now 
found  subject  to  variation  from  causes  in  which  reason 
had  no  part.  "  If  I  am  accidentally  left  alone  for  a 
few  hours,"  said  he,  '•'  my  inveterate  persuasion  rushes 
upon  my  soul  and  my  thoughts  are  chained  down  by 
some  irresistible  violence;  but  they  are  soon  disen- 
tangled by  the  prince's  conversation,  and  instantane- 
ously released  at  the  entrance  of  Pekuah.  I  am  like  a 
man  habitually  afraid  of  spectres,  who  is  set  at  ease  by 
a  lamp,  and  wonders  at  the  dread  which  harassed  him 
in  tlie  dark;  yet,  if  his  lamp  be  extinguished,  feels 
again  the  terrors  which  he  knows  that  when  it  is  light 
he  shall  feel  no  more.  But  I  am  sometimes  afraid  lest 
I  indulge  my  quiet  by  criminal  negligence,  and  volun- 
tarily forget  the  great  charge  with  which  I  am  in- 
trusted. If  I  favor  myself  in  a  known  error,  or  am 
determined  by  my  own  ease  in  a  doubtful  question  of 
this  importance,  how  dreadful  is  my  crime  !  " 

"  No  disease  of  the  imagination,"  answered  Imlac, 
"  is  so  difficult  of  cure  as  "that  which  is  complicated 
with  the  dread  of  guilt :  fancy  and  conscience  then  act 
interchangeably  upon  us,  and  so  often  shift  their 
places  that  tha  illusions  of  one  are  not  distinguished 
from  the  dictates  of  the  other.  If  fancy  presents  im- 
ages not  moral  or  religious,  the  mind  drives  them  away 
when  they  give  it  pain,  hut  when  melancholic  notions 
take  the  form  of  duty,  they  lay  hold  on  the  faculties 
without  opposition,  because  we  are  afraid  to  exclude 
or  banish  them.  For  this  reason  the  superstitious  are 
often  melancholy,  and  the  melanclioly  almost  always 
superstitious. 

"But  do  not  let  the  suggestions  of  timidity  over- 
power your  better  reason;  the  danger  of  neglect  can 
he  but  as  the  probability  of  the  obligation,  which, 
when  you  consider  it  with  freedom,  you  find  very 
little,  and  that  little  growing  every  day  less.  Open 
your  heart  ro  the  influence  of  the  light  which,  fi-om 
time  to  time  breaks  in  upon  you  :  when  scruples  im- 
portune you,  which  you  in  your  lucid  moments  know 
to  be  vain,  do  not  stand  to  parley,  but  fly  to  busi- 
ness or  to  Pekuah,  and  keep  this  thought  always  prev- 
valent  that  you  are  only  one  atom  of  the  mass  of  hu- 
manity^ and  have  neither  such  virtue  nor  vice  as  that 
you  should  be  singled  out  for  supernatural  favors  or 
afflictions." 


RASSELAS.  87 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE   PRINCE   ENTERS,  AND  BRINGS  A    NEW    TOPIC. 

"All  this,"  said  the  astronomer,  "  I  have  often 
thought,  but  \ny  reason  has  been  so  long  subjugated 
by  aii  uncontrollable  and  oven-whelmhig  idea  that  it 
durst  not  contide  in  its  own  decisions.  1  now  see  liow 
fatallj^  I  betraj'ed  my  quiet  b}^  suffering  chimeras  to 
prey  upon  me  in  secret,  but  melancholy  shrinks  from 
communication,  and  I  never  found  a  man  before  to 
whom  I  could  impart  my  troubles,  though  I  liad  been 
certain  of  relief.  I  rejoice  to  find  my  own  sentiment.-, 
confirmed  by  yours,  who  are  not  easily  deceived,  and 
can  have  no  motive  or  purpose  to  deceive.  I  liope 
that  time  and  variety  will  dissipate  the  gloom  that  has 
so  long  surroundecl  me  ,  and  the  latter  part  of  my 
days  will  be  spent  in  peace." 

•'  Your  learning  and  virtue,"  said  Imlac,  "  may 
justly  give  you  hopes." 

Rasselas  then  entered  with  the  princess  and  Pekuah, 
and  inquired  whether  the)^  had  contrived  any  new 
diversion  for  the  next  day  ?  "Such,"  said  Nekayah, 
"is  the  state  of  life,  that  none  are  happy  but  by  the 
anticipation  of  change;  the  change  itself  is  nothing; 
when  we  have  made  it,  the  next  wish  is  to  cliange 
again.  The  world  is  not  yet  exliausted;  let  me  see 
something  to-morrow  which  I  never  saw  before." 

"  Variety/' said  Rasselas,  "  is  so  necessary  to  con- 
tent, that  even  the  happy  valley  disgusted  me  by  the 
recm-rence  of  its  luxuries;  yet  I  could  not  forbear  to 
reproach  myself  with  impatience  when  I  saw  the 
monks  of  St.  Anthony  support,  without  complaint,  a 
life,  not  of  uniform  delight  but  uniform  hardship." 

"  Those  men,"  answered  Imlac,  "  are  less  wretched 
in  their  silent  convent  than  the  Abyssinian  princes  in 
their  prison  of  pleasure.  Whatever  is  done  by  the 
monks  is  incited  by  an  adequate  and  reasonable  mo- 
tive. Their  labor  supi^lies  them  with  necessaries;  it 
therefore  cannot  be  omitted,  and  is  certainly  rewarded. 
Their  devotion  prepares  them  for  another  state,  and 
reminds  them  of  its  approach  while  it  fits  them  for  it. 
Their  time  is  regularly  distributed:  one  duty  succeeds 
another,  so  that  they  are  not  left  open  to  the  distrac- 
tion of  unguided  choice,  nor  lost  in  the  shades  of  list- 
less inactivity.  There  is  a  certain  task  to  be  performed 
at  an  appropriated  hour;  and  their  toils  are  cheerful 
because  they  consider  them  as  acts  of  piety,  by  which 
they  are  always  advancing  toward  endless  felicity." 

"  Do  you  think,"  said  Nekayah,  "  that  the  monastic 
rule  is  a  more  holy  and  less  imperfect  state  than  any 
other  ?    May  not  he  equally  hope  for  future  happiness 


88  RASSELAS. 

who  converses  openly  with  mankind,  who  succors  the 
distressed  by  his  charity,  instructs  the  ignorant  by  his 
learning,  and  contributes  by  hisindustry  to  the  general 
system  of  life,  even  though  he  should  omit  some  of 
the  mortifications-  which  are  practised  in  the  cloister. 
and  allow  himself  such  harmless  delights  as  his  condi- 
tion may  place  within  his  reach  ?  " 

*'  This,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  a  question  which  has  long 
divided  the  wise  and  perplexed  the  good.  J  am  afraid 
to  decide  on  either  part.  He  that  lives  well  in  the 
world  is  better  thajx  he  that  lives  well  in  a  monastery. 
But  perhaps  every  one  is  not  able  to  stem  the  tempta- 
tions of  public  life;  and  if  he  cannot  conquer  he  may 
properly  retreat.  Some  have  little  power  to  do  good, 
and  likewise  lirtle  strength  to  resist  evil.  Many  are 
weary  of  their  conflicts  with  adversity,  and  are  willing 
to  eject  those  passions  which  have  long  busied  them  in 
vain.  And  many  are  dismissed  by  age  and  diseases 
from  the  more  laborious  duties  of  society.  In  mou' 
asteries  the  weak  and  timorous  may  be  happily  shel- 
tered, the  weary  may  repose,  and  the  penitent  may 
meditate.  Those  retreats  of  praye"  and  contemplation 
have  something  so  congenial  to  the  mind  of  man  that, 
perhaps,  there  is  scarcely  one  that  do^s  not  purpose  to 
close  his  life  in  pious  abstraction  with  a  few  associates 
as  serious  as  himself." 

"  Such,"  said  Pekuah,  "has  often  l>Qen  my  wish, 
and  I  have  heard  the  princess  declare  th^-t  she  should 
not  willingly  die  in  a  crowd." 

"  The  liberty  of  using  harmless  pleasures,"  pro' 
ceeded  Imlac,  "  will  not  be  disputed;  but  it  is  «till  to  be 
examined  what  pleasures  are  harmless.  The  evil  of 
any  pleasure  that  Nekayah  can  image  is  not  in  the 
act  itself,  but  in  its  consequences.  Pleasure,  in  itseli" 
harmless,  may  become  mischievous  by  endearing  us  to 
a  state  which  we  know  to  be  ti-ansient  and  probatory, 
and  withdrawing  our  thoughts  from  that  of  which 
every  hour  brings  us  nearer  to  the  beginning,  and  of 
which  no  length  of  time  will  bring  us  to  the  end. 
Mortification  is  not  virtuous  in  itself,  nor  has  any  other 
use  but  that  it  disengages  us  from  allurements  of  sense. 
In  the  state  of  future  perfection,  to  which  we  all  as- 
])ire,  there  will  be  pleasure  without  danger,  and  secur- 
ity without  restraint." 

The  princess  was  silent,  and  Rasselas,  turning  to  the 
astronomer,  asked  him,  "  whether  he  could  not  delay 
her  retreat  by  showing  her  something  which  she  had 
not  seen  before  ?" 

*'  Your  curiosity,"  said  the  sage,  ''  has  been  so  gen- 
eral, and  your  pursuit  of  knowledge  so  vigorous,  that 
novelties  are  not  now  very  easily  to  be  found;  but 
what  you  can  no  longer  procure  from  the  living  may 


RASSELAS.  89 

be  given  by  the  dead.  Among  the  wonders  of  this 
country  are  the  catacombs,  or  the  ancient  repositories 
in  which  tlie  bodies  of  the  earhest  generations  were 
lodged,  and  where,  by  the  virtue  of  the  gums  which 
embahned  them,  they  yet  remahi  without  corrup- 
tion." 

"I  know  not,"  said  Rasselas,  "  what  pleasure  the 
sight  of  tlie  catacombs  can  afford;  but,  since  nothing 
else  is  offered,  I  am  resolved  to  view  them,  and  shall 
place  this  with  many  other  things  which  I  have  done 
because  I  would  do  something." 

They  hired  a  guard  of  horsemen,  and  the  next  day 
visited  the  catacombs.  When  they  were  about  to  de- 
scend into  the  sepulchral  caves,  *'  Pekuah,"  said  the 
princess,  "  we  are  now  again  invading  the  habitations 
of  the  dead;  I  know  that  you  will  stay  behind;  let  me 
find  you  safe  when  I  return."  "  No;  I  will  not  be 
left,"  answered  Pekuah,  "I  will  go  down  between 
you  and  the  prince." 

They  then  all  descended,  and  roved  with  wonder 
through  the  labyrinth  of  subterraneous  passages,  where 
the  bodies  were  laid  in  rows  on  either  side. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

IMLAC  DISCOURSES  ON  THE  I^ATURE  OF  THE   SOUIi. 

"What  reason,"  said  the  prince,  *'can  be  given 
why  the  Egyptians  should  thus  expensively  preserve 
those  carcasses  which  some  nations  consume  with  fire, 
others  lay  to  mingle  with  the  earth,  and  all  agree  to 
remove  from  their  sight  as  soon  as  decent  rites  can  be 
performed  ?  ' ' 

"  The  original  ancient  custom,"  said  Imlac,  "is  com- 
monly unknown,  for  the  practice  often  continues  when 
the  cause  has  ceased;  and  concerning  superstitious 
ceremonies  it  is  vahi  so  conjecture  :  for  what  reason 
did  not  dictate  reason  cannot  explain,  I  have  long 
believed  that  the  i)ractice  of  emlDalming  arose  only 
from  tenderness  to  the  remains  of  relations  or  friends, 
and  to  this  opinion  I  am  more  inclined  because  it  seems 
impossible  that  this  care  should  have  been  general; 
had  all  the  dead  been  embalmed,  their  repositories 
must  in  time  have  been  more  spacious  than  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  living.  I  suppose  only  the  rich  or  hon- 
orable wei^  secured  from  corruption,  and  the  rest  left 
to  the  course  of  nature. 

"But  it  is  commonly  supposed  that  the  Egyptians 
believed  the  soul  to  live  as  long  as  the  body  continued 
undissolved,  and  therefore  tried  this  method  of  eluding 
death,"  ^ 


90  EASSELAH. 

''  Could  the  wise  Egyptians,"  said  Nekayah,  "  think 
so  grossly  of  the  soul  ?  If  the  soul  could  once  survive 
its  separation,  what  could  it  afterward  receive  or  suffer 
from  the  body  ?  " 

*'  Tlie  Egyptians  v^^ould  doubtless  think  erroneously," 
said  tlie  astronomer,  "  in  tlie  darkness  of  heathenism, 
and  the  first  dawn  of  j)hilosopl»y.  The  nature  of  the 
soul  is  still  disputed  amid  all  our  opportunities  of 
clearer  knowledge:  some  yet  say  that  it  may  be  ma- 
terial, who  nevertheless  believe  it  to  be  immortal." 

"  Some,"  answered  Imlac,  "have  Indeed  said  that 
the  soul  is  material,  but  1  can  scarcely  believe  that  any 
man  has  thought  it  who  knew  how  to  think;  for  all 
tlie  conclusions  of  reason  enforce  the  immateriality  of 
mind,  and  all  the  notices  of  sense  and  investigations  of 
science  concur  to  prove  the  unconsciousness  of  matter. 

"  It  was  never  supposed  that  cogitation  is  inherent 
in  matter,  or  that  every  particle  is  a  thinking  being. 
Yet  if  any  part  of  matter  be  devoid  of  thougiit,  what 
part  can  we  suppose  to  think  ?  Matter  can  differ 
from  matter  only  in  form,  density,  bulk,  motion  and 
direction  of  motion;  to  which  of  these,  however  varied 
or  combined,  can  consciousness  be  annexed  ?  To  be 
round  or  square,  to  be  solid  or  fluid,  to  be  great  or 
little,  to  be  moved  slowly  or  swiftly  one  way  or 
another,  are  modes  of  material  existence,  all  equally 
ahen  from  the  nature  of  cogitation.  If  matter  be  once 
without  thought,  it  can  only  be  made  to  think  by  some 
new  modification,  but  all  the  modifications  which  it  can 
admit  are  equall}'^  unconnected  with  cogitative  powers." 

*' But  the  materialists,"  said  the  astronomer,  "urge 
that  matter  may  have  qualities  with  which  we  are  un- 
acquainted." 

"  He  who  will  determine,"  returned  Imlac,  "  against 
that  which  he  knows,  because  there  may  be  something 
which  he  knows  not,  he  that  can  set  hypothetical  x^os- 
sibility  against  acknowledged  certainty,  is  not  to  be 
admitted  among  reasonable  beings.  All  that  we 
know  of  matter  is,  that  matter  is  inert,  senseless,  and 
lifeless;  and  if  this  conviction  cannot  be  opposed  but 
by  referring  us  to  something  that  we  know  not,  we 
liave  all  the  evidence  that  human  intellect  can  admit. 
If  that  which  is  known  may  be  overruled  by  that 
which  is  unknown,  no  being  not  omniscient  can  arrive 
at  certainty." 

"Yet  let  us  not,"  said  the  astronomer,  "too  airo- 
gantly  limit  the  Creator's  power."  * 

"It  is  no  limitation  of  omnipotence,"  replied  the 
poet,  "  to  suppose  that  one  thing  is  not  consistent 
with  another,  that  the  same  proposition  cannot  be  at 
once  true  and  false,  that  the  same  number  cannot  be 


RASSELAS.  91 

even  and  odd,  that  cogitation  cannot  be  conferred  on 
that  which  is  created  incai)ablo  of  cogitation." 

"I know  not,"  said  Nekayah,  '-'an}^  great  use  of 
this  qnestion.  Does  that  inniiateriahtj^,  which,  in  my 
opinion,  you  have  sufficiently  proved,  necessarily  in- 
clude eternal  durations." 

*'  Of  immateriality,"  saidlmlac,  "  our  ideas  are  nega- 
tive, and  therefore  obscure.  Immateriality  seems  to 
imply  a  natural  power  of  perpetual  duration  as  a  con- 
sequence of  exemption  from  all  causes  of  decay: 
whatever  perishes  is  destroyed  by  the  solution  of  its 
contexture,  and  separation  of  its  parts;  nor  can  we 
conceive  how  that  which  has  no  parts,  and  therefore 
admits  no  solution,  can  be  naturally  corrupted  or  im- 
paired." 

*'  I  know  not,"  said  Easselas,  **  how  to  conceive  any- 
thing without  extension;  what  is  extended  must  have 
parts,  and  you  allow  that  whatever  has  parts  may  be 
destroj^ed." 

"  Consider  your  own  conceptions,"  replied  Imlac, 
"  and  the  difficulty  will  be  less.  You  will  find  sub- 
stance without  extension.  An  idea  form  is  no  less 
real  than  material  bulk :  yet  an  ideal  form  has  no  ex- 
tension. It  is  no  less  certain,  when  you  think  on  a 
pyramid  that  your  mind  possesses  the  idea  of  a  pyra- 
mid than  that  the  pyramid  itself  is  standing.  What 
space  does  the  idea  of  a  pyramid  occupy  more  than 
the  idea  of  a  grain  of  corn  ?  or  hpAv  can  either  idea 
suffer  laceration  !  As  is  the  effect,  such  is  the  cause :  as 
thought,  such  is  the  power  that  thinks,  a  power  im- 
passive and  indiscerptible." 

**  But  the  Being,"  said  Nekayah,  "  whom  I  fear  to 
name,  the  Being  which  made  the  soul,  can  destroy  it." 

"He  surelj^  can  destroy  it,"  answered  Imlac,  "since, 
however  unperishable,  it  receives  from  a  superior 
nature  its  power  of  duration.  That  it  will  not  perish 
by  any  inherent  cause  of  decay  or  principle  of  cor- 
ruption, may  be  shown  by  philosophy;  but  philosophy 
can  tell  no  more.  That  it  v/ill  not  be  annihilated  by 
him  that  made  it,  we  must  humbly  learn  from  higher 
authority." 

The  whole  assembly  stood  awhile  silent  and  col- 
lected. 

" Let  us  return,"  said  Rasselas,  "from  this  scene  of 
mortality.  How  gloomy  would  be  these  mansions  of 
the  dead  to  him  who  did  not  know  that  he  should 
never  die,  that  what  now  acts  shall  continue  its  agency, 
and  wliat  now  thinks  shall  think  on  forever  I  Those 
that  lie  here  stretched  before  us,  the  wise  and  the 
powerful  of  ancient  times,  warn  us  to  remember  the 
shortness  of  our  present  state  :   they  were,  jierhaps. 


92  RASSELAS. 

snatched  away  while  they  were  busy  like  us  in  the 
choice  of  life." 

'*To  me,"  said  the  princess,  "the  choice  of  life  is 
become  less  important ;  I  hope  hereafter  to  think  only 
on  the  choice  of  eternity." 

They  then  hastened  out  of  the  caverns,  and  under 
the  protection  of  their  guard  returned  to  Cairo. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE     CONCLUSION,    IN    WHICH     NOTHING    IS    CON- 
CliUDED. 

It  was  now  the  time  of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile: 
a  few  days  after  their  visit  to  the  catacombs  the  river 
began  to  rise. 

They  were  confined  to  their  house.  The  whole 
region  being  under  water  gave  them  no  invitation  to 
any  excursions,  and  being  well  supplied  with  materials 
for  talk,  they  diverted  themselves  with  comparisons  of 
the  different  forms  of  life  which  they  had  observed, 
and  with  various  schemes  of  happiness  which  each  of 
them  had  formed. 

Pekuah  was  never  so  nmch  charmed  with  any  place 
as  the  convent  of  St.  Anthony,  where  the  Arab  restored 
her  to  the  princess,  and  wished  only  to  fill  it  with  pious 
maidens,  and  to  be  made  prioress  of  the  order;  she  was 
weary  of  expectation  and  disgust,  and  would  gladly  be 
fixed  in  some  unvariable  state. 

The  princess  thought,  that  of  all  sublunary  things 
knowledge  was  the  best :  she  desired  first  to  learn  all 
sciences,  and  then  proposed  to  found  a  college  of 
learned  women,  in  which  she  would  preside,  that,  by 
conversing  with  the  old  and  educating  the  young,  she 
might  divide  her  time  between  the  acquisition  and 
communication  of  wisdom,  and  raise  up,  for  the  next 
age,  models  of  prudence  and  patterns  of  piety. 

The  prince  desired  a  little  kingdom,  in  whicli  he 
might  administer  Justice  in  his  own  person,  and  see  all 
the  parts  of  government  with  his  own  eyes;  but  he 
could  never  fix  the  limits  of  his  dominion,  and  was 
always  adding  to  the  number  of  his  subjects. 

Imlac  and  the  astronomer  were  contented  to  be 
driven  along  the  stream  of  life,  without  directing  their 
course  to  any  particular  port. 

Of  these  wishes  that  they  had  formed  they  well  knew 
that  none  could  be  obtained.  They  deliberated  awhile 
what  was  to  be  done,  and  resolved,  when  the  inunda- 
tion should  cease,  to  return  to  Abyssinia. 

THE   END. 


